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190 episodes with go-to-market strategy
5 episodes with go-to-market strategy
4 episodes with go-to-market strategy
4 episodes with go-to-market strategy
4 episodes with go-to-market strategy
4 episodes with go-to-market strategy
4 episodes with go-to-market strategy
3 episodes with go-to-market strategy
2 episodes with go-to-market strategy
Over the past two decades, Bret Taylor has quietly helped shape the arc of Silicon Valley.From co-creating Google Maps to steering Facebook, Salesforce, and OpenAI, he's been behind some of the most consequential products in tech. Now, with his new company Sierra, he's starting from zero—again.In this conversation, Bret opens up about how founders navigate identity, why the best ideas often come from everyday friction, and how staying relentlessly focused can unlock real momentum in AI.Guest: Bret Taylor, Co-Founder of SierraChapters:00:00 Trailer00:49 Introduction01:57 Saving OpenAI09:15 Overwhelming yet capable of a lot13:36 Father and founder16:49 History is written by the victors22:13 How you price matters35:58 Stickiest piece of software49:48 The first realtime social network55:34 Facebook CTO who rewrote Google Maps1:02:10 Least known, most impressive1:11:39 The best way to predict the future1:16:22 Most personally passionate1:21:22 Currency of reputation1:27:17 Away from work1:28:35 Who Sierra is hiring1:28:58 What “grit” means to Bret1:29:18 OutroMentioned in this episode: Google Maps, Salesforce, OpenAI ChatGPT, Meta Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Google, Marissa Mayer, Excite, MSN, AltaVista, Amazon, Harvey, Airbnb, Coinbase, Apple, John Doerr, Cursor, Codeium Windsurf, Perplexity, xAI, Kleenex, Amazon Web Services (AWS), FriendFeed, Tumblr, Kevin Gibbs, Google Maps, Yelp, Trulia, iOS App Store, Blackberry, Facebook Messenger, Marvel Avengers, Slack, Quip, Leonardo da Vinci, Clay Bavor, Microsoft, Eric Schmidt, Alan Kay, Brian Armstrong, Brian Chesky, Shopify, SiriusXM, Patrick CollisonLinks:Connect with Bret TaylorXLinkedInConnect with JoubinXLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.comLearn more about Kleiner Perkins
Guest InformationJaya Pokuri - Co-founder, Bonfire AnalyticsVinay Nagaraj - Co-founder, Bonfire AnalyticsKey Topics DiscussedHealthcare data analytics and go-to-market strategyMachine learning applications in health tech salesProcessing prescription claims and medical dataMoving beyond volume-driven provider targetingHealthcare policy challenges and data accessCompanies and Products MentionedBonfire Analytics - Healthcare data analytics platformPoint Designs - Prosthetics device company (case study)Key Statistics3x increase in sales efficiency for Point DesignsFounded Bonfire Analytics in late 2022Target market: SMB to mid-market health tech companiesResourcesBonfire Analytics Website: https://www.bonfireanalytics.com/Using Provider Data to Sharpen Your GLP-1 GTM StrategyConnect with guests on LinkedIn: Jaya Pokuri and Vinay Nagaraj Product in Healthtech is community for healthtech product leaders, by product leaders. For more information, and to sign up for our free webinars, visit www.productinhealthtech.com.
Chris Urmson has spent the last 20 years pushing the limits of autonomous driving—first at Carnegie Mellon's DARPA Grand Challenge team, then as co-founder of Google's self-driving car project, now Waymo.On this week's episode, the Aurora CEO retraces that journey—from building robot cars in the desert to leading a public company pioneering driverless trucking.He shares why autonomy was always a matter of when, not if, how he handled a high-profile departure from Waymo, and what it takes to build at the intersection of deep tech, safety, and infrastructure.Now eight years into Aurora, Urmson says the future he's been chasing is finally within reach.Guest: Chris Urmson, Co-Founder & CEO of AuroraChapters: 00:00 Trailer00:43 Introduction01:59 FSD: are we there? 14:31 The competition, a million dollar check from LA to LV22:50 Dream like an amateur, execute like a pro32:30 Operate with integrity42:49 The future is here, unevenly distributed49:36 Underestimated decisions, minimizing regrets1:03:55 Retaining value1:16:45 Integrating self-driving1:28:20 Lifer1:29:25 Who Aurora is hiring1:29:53 What “grit” means to Chris1:30:15 OutroMentioned in this episode: Waymo, Google, Rivian, Dmitri Dolgov, Uber, Tesla, The DARPA Grand Challenge, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, United States Department of Defense, Carnegie Mellon University, Stanford University, FedEx, Werner Enterprises, Hirschbach, Schneider Electric, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Sebastian Thrun, Batman, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Anthony Levandowski, Donald Trump, Apple iPhone, Airbnb, Blackmore, Stripe, Titan, Ford, Volkswagen, RJ Scaringe, Peterbilt Motors Company, The Volvo Group, Continental AG, Dara KhosrowshahiLinks:Connect with Chris UrmsonXLinkedInConnect with JoubinXLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
John Chambers led Cisco through the rise of the internet—transforming it into the world's most valuable company at its peak.On this week's Grit, the former Cisco CEO unpacks how he scaled the business from $70M to $50B+, pioneered M&A as a growth strategy with 180 acquisitions, and built what many called the best sales force in tech.Now leading his own venture firm, Chambers shares how he's backing the next generation of AI-native startups.Guest: John T. Chambers, Former Cisco Executive Chairman & CEO, JC2 Ventures Founder & CEOChapters: 00:00 Trailer00:45 Introduction01:45 Track record, relationships, trust13:21 Acquisitions every year17:32 Product-focused24:40 Family, dyslexia, and without shame30:46 Wang Laboratories35:59 Ready being CEO40:17 Reinventing your business50:08 Numbers don't lie54:09 Sales calls and making mistakes56:20 Adapting leadership style1:06:32 Best leadership year ever1:13:35 A busy, exhausting schedule1:22:07 Candid with me1:25:21 What “grit” means to John1:26:43 OutroMentioned in this episode: John Doerr, OpenAI, Wang Laboratories, IBM, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Apple Inc., Meta Platforms, FMC Corporation, DuPont de Nemours, Inc., John Mortgage, Don Valentine, Sequoia Capital, Alcatel Mobile, Lucent Technologies, Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., AT&T Inc., Rick Justice, Pankage Patel, Larry Carter, CNBC, Jim Cramer, George Kurtz, CrowdStrike, Randy Pond, Rebecca Jacoby, Mel SelcherLinks:Connect with JohnXLinkedInConnect with JoubinXLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.comLearn more about Kleiner Perkins
Guest: Jim Curry, CoFounder at BuildGroupIs AI really transforming your SaaS business—or just adding noise?In this week's episode, Jim Curry, co-founder of BuildGroup and former Rackspace exec, discusses how AI is transforming both the products and operations of SaaS businesses—and why most companies are missing the opportunity.Jim shares how BuildGroup's operator-first, long-term approach to investing gives them an edge when helping SaaS companies scale, especially in today's AI-first environment. He explains why AI should be seen as an infrastructure wave (not just a flashy product feature), and how CROs and CMOs can practically apply it to go-to-market execution.We cover:Why AI gives incumbents an advantage (if they act fast)How to use AI to reduce CAC and improve GTM speedWhere traditional SaaS GTM playbooks break down in an AI-native worldWhy demos and SDR workflows are ripe for automationHow BuildGroup partners deeply with founders post-investmentIf you're a SaaS executive thinking about where to apply AI for real impact—without waiting for a full replatform—this conversation is packed with insight.---Not Getting Enough Demos? Your messaging could be turning buyers away before you even get a chance to pitch.
Matt Murphy transformed Marvell from a broad-based chip supplier into a $100B data infrastructure leader—powering the rise of AI, cloud, 5G, and custom silicon.On this week's Grit, the Marvell CEO shares how he refocused the company's strategy, led major acquisitions like Inphi ($10B) and Cavium ($6B), and positioned Marvell at the center of the next era of compute.He also reflects on lessons from his father, a longtime CEO, the discipline of running 90 miles a week, and how staying steady through industry cycles has set him apart.Chapters:00:00 Trailer00:47 Introduction03:00 Huge company, taking the long view10:28 Market cap shift to big tech14:44 The data infrastructure opportunity20:30 Massive economic opportunity31:33 Semiconductor industry and geopolitics40:46 Taiwan and Moore's Law 44:05 Getting hammered down 50%47:05 Silicon Valley51:15 All in despite risks55:37 The CEO checkbox1:01:22 Email from Matt, subject: Grit1:07:35 The higher you go1:15:44 Who Marvell is hiring1:20:14 What “grit” means to Matt1:24:40 OutroMentioned in this episode: Jim Cramer, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC), Maxim Integrated, Mattel, Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc, Juniper Networks, Meta Platforms, Amazon.com, Inc., Cavium, Inc., Inphi Corporation, Aquantia Corporation, Mellanox Technologies, Nvidia Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, OpenAI, Anthropic, John Chambers, Facebook, Spotify, Airbnb, Google, Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump, Intel Corporation, Robert Norton Noyce, Gordon Moore, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), Andrew "Andy" Stephen Grove, Bloomberg, Intuit Inc., Lip-Bu Tan, Sehat Sutardja, Whay S. Lee, Starboard Value, Rick Hill, Novellus Systems, Inc., Michael Strachan, Deloitte & Touche LLP, Apple Inc., Steve Jobs, Chris KoopmansLinks:Connect with MattLinkedInConnect with JoubinXLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.comLearn more about Kleiner Perkins
Welcome to the Scale with Strive podcast, the place where you come to listen to some of the world's most influential leaders of the SaaS industry.
From a 350-square-foot home in South India to leading HubSpot, a $30B CRM powerhouse, Yamini Rangan's journey is nothing short of remarkable. In this episode, Yamini shares how she's guiding HubSpot through a post-pandemic shift toward product-led growth, the hard-won lessons behind building go-to-market alignment, and why human-centric leadership is her edge in an AI-first world. Plus, her take on why data is the new battleground in tech.Chapters: 00:00 Trailer00:52 Introduction02:22 Fire in my belly10:06 Constraints12:19 Peak performance16:38 Helping while in sheer panic21:43 The general ethos30:14 Customer value36:08 Excited and scared47:25 Becoming CEO54:19 Feeling behind1:01:51 Very lonely1:05:34 Losing credibility1:08:42 Slowing down, sitting still1:12:31 No patience to finish a book1:15:39 Who HubSpot is hiring1:15:54 What “grit” means to Yamini1:16:45 OutroMentioned in this episode: Sequoia Capital, Carl Pieri, Brian Halligan, Zoom Workplace, Meta Platforms, Google, Anthropic, Microsoft, Salesforce, Blockbuster Video, BlackBerry Limited, Axon Enterprise, Netflix, Snapchat, Harvey, Dharmesh Shah, Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid, Sapiens: A Brief History of HumankindLinks:Connect with YaminiXLinkedInConnect with JoubinXLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.comLearn more about Kleiner Perkins
In this episode of the Revenue Builders Podcast, hosts John McMahon and John Kaplan are joined by Marcello Gallo, Chief Revenue Officer at Sigma Computing. The discussion dives into Marcello's extensive experience in enterprise sales leadership, including his non-traditional path, lessons from leading roles at various companies, and the importance of structure, mentorship, and continuous learning. Marcello shares valuable insights on transitioning from technical roles to sales, territory management, and the significance of aligning with customer needs to drive value. The conversation also emphasizes the importance of having a growth mindset, understanding customer environments, and leveraging product-market fit for sustained success.ADDITIONAL RESOURCESLearn more about Marcello Gallo:https://www.linkedin.com/in/gallomarcello/Download the CRO Strategy Checklist: https://hubs.li/Q03f8LmX0Read Force Management's Guide to Increasing Company Valuation: https://hubs.li/Q038n0jT0Enjoying the podcast? Sign up to receive new episodes straight to your inbox: https://hubs.li/Q02R10xN0HERE ARE SOME KEY SECTIONS TO CHECK OUT[00:01:53] Marcello's Journey into Enterprise Sales[00:08:13] The Importance of Structure in Sales[00:28:37] Navigating Major Accounts and Complex Sales[00:34:32] Understanding the Champion's Role in Sales[00:35:15] Building Strong Relationships with Champions[00:37:59] The Importance of Predicting and Preparing for Objections[00:39:14] Role-Playing and Preparation Techniques[00:40:05] Leadership and Helping Teams Get Unstuck[00:42:03] Lessons from Climbing the Corporate Ladder[00:43:21] The Value of Enablement and Territory Management[00:46:20] Adapting to Market Changes and Customer Feedback[00:53:59] Choosing the Right Opportunities and Taking Risks[01:04:50] Sigma Computing's Growth and OpportunitiesHIGHLIGHT QUOTES“If you can't bet on yourself, who can you bet on?"“Knowledge is courage.”“You get delegated to those that you sound like.”“Hire the people commensurate to the territory that you have open.”“Don't confuse position with opportunity.”
Get 90 days free with Fellow's AI Meeting Assistant - https://fellow.app/coo Key Takeaways:RevOps aligns and optimizes sales, marketing, and customer success, ensuring efficient and sustainable growth.Effective RevOps requires balancing strategic planning, data-driven analytics, and tactical execution.Successful RevOps integration hinges on clear communication, cultural alignment, and strategic hiring decisions.AI is poised to significantly impact RevOps by improving efficiency, though human judgment remains crucial.Metrics and KPIs in RevOps must directly correlate to revenue growth, profitability, and organizational efficiency.Brad emphasizes proactive disruption, transparency, and alignment to navigate the rapid evolution of sales operations. Timestamps:(02:00) What is RevOps and how Brad transitioned into it from finance(07:00) Common misconceptions and early mistakes in RevOps(11:00) Building a robust RevOps foundation and data hygiene(15:00) Creating alignment across sales, marketing, and customer success(20:00) Key metrics and strategic decision-making in RevOps(24:00) AI's impact on RevOps and potential pitfalls(30:00) Real-world experiences with AI-powered sales calls(33:00) RevOps vs. SalesOps and defining terms clearly(36:00) Advocating for RevOps budgets and demonstrating value(40:00) Lessons learned about effective communication and internal alignment Links:90 Days Free of Fellow's AI Meeting Assistant: https://fellow.app/cooBrad Rosen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradrosen1/Michael Koenig on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-koenig514/ Sales Assembly: https://www.salesassembly.com/Between Two COO's: https://betweentwocoos.com Episode URL: https://www.betweentwocoos.com/sales-assembly-president-brad-rosen-on-unlocking-growth-and-why-revops-is-critical-for-sustainable-scaling
David Rubenstein helped pioneer modern private equity—building The Carlyle Group into a $400B global investment firm from a modest D.C. office and a relentless fundraising streak. But beyond PE, his legacy spans presidential libraries, historic American artifacts, and a lifelong obsession with civic contribution.In this episode, David shares how he raised billions without a background in finance, why owning a baseball team was more than just a trophy purchase—and what building true generational success really means beyond wealth alone.Chapters:00:00 Trailer00:53 Introduction01:40 Family, wealth, class14:40 Happiness disparity and longevity19:25 I need more to give away more25:04 The relentless fundraiser 33:53 Kids and travel36:06 No track record, the great white buffalo38:59 Business and politics43:53 Fired from Washington45:52 Fundraising, presidents, podcast guests48:04 Private equity and sports53:44 Expenses — no charges55:49 Waking up with energy 57:26 Preserving copies1:02:05 Organizational architecture1:03:41 Bury me in my plane1:08:11 Not a big luxury spender1:10:32 What “grit” means to David1:10:50 OutroMentioned in this episode: Andrew Rubenstein, Stanford University, Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, Warren Buffett, Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), Procter & Gamble Company, Forbes 400, Duke University, University of Chicago, Harvard Corporation, Johns Hopkins University, California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump, Jimmy Carter, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Smithsonian Institution, National Gallery of Art, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Arianna Huffington, Xi Jinping, Hank Greenberg, Stephen A. Schwarzman, Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos, Baltimore Orioles, Fred Trammell Crow, Harlan Crow, National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), Arctos Partners LP, Anthropic, Magna Carta Libertatum, Declaration of Independence, Emancipation Proclamation, Abraham Lincoln, US Constitution, National Archives, Lincoln Memorial, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, Mount Vernon, Monticello, Montpelier, Mark Cuban, Paul McCartneyConnect with David:X: @DM_RubensteinConnect with Joubin:X: @JoubinmirLinkedIn: Joubin MirzadeganEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.comkleinerperkins.com
Amplitude helped define the modern analytics stack, powering digital products with deep behavioral insights. But in a world shifting toward agentic interfaces and vertically integrated AI, even a category leader has to evolve.In this episode, CEO Spenser Skates shares how he's rethinking AI within the constraints of a 13-year-old codebase, why analytics remains Amplitude's competitive edge—and why taking the company public early was a risk worth taking. Links:Connect with SpenserXLinkedInConnect with JoubinXLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.comLearn more about Kleiner Perkins
On this encore episode, I sit down with a colleague from back in my work on the brand side, Craig Baxter, Group President of Techtronic Industries Canada Inc., part of a global 13 billion dollar powerhouse tool house of brands that includes Milwaukee, Ryobi, andHoover. In a wide-ranging and engaging conversation, Craig talks about radical innovation, retail go-to-market strategy, leadership for growth, and the epic come-from-behind marketplace win for his Milwaukee brand of power tools as the sixth horse in a five-horse race. About CraigSixteen years ago, I was given the opportunity to become the president of TTi Canada; a world class leader in design, manufacturing, and marketing of power tools and accessories, outdoor product equipment and floor care for consumers, professional and industrial users in the home improvement, repair, and construction industries.Since then, I have had the privilege of working alongside a team of outstanding performers who share the same belief in setting audacious goals and holding ourselves accountable to deliver those goals while continuing to cultivate a best in class working environment.Along with our unrelenting strategic focus on powerful brands, innovative products, operational excellence, and exceptional people, we strive to continuously build upon a corporate culture where our employees can realize more and more of their abundant potential. What inspires me, is seeing people striving to do great work and growing into the best version of themselves. By continuously improving our culture through all of our success we have further leveraged our biggest differentiator as a company, and that is something I am very proud of.“Show class, have pride, and display character. And if you do, winning takes care of itself” – Bear Bryant Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada's Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fifth year in a row, the National Retail Federation has designated Michael as on their Top Retail Voices for 2025, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer. If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael's cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.
Flexport was a breakout success—reimagining global trade with tech at its core. But when the freight market cooled and efficiency overtook service, things started to unravel. Founder Ryan Petersen stepped aside, handing the CEO role to former Amazon exec Dave Clark. Months later, he was back at the helm.In this episode, Ryan explains what went wrong, how he's rebuilding Flexport—cutting $300M in costs, restoring customer focus—and why promoting from within beats chasing outside stars. He also weighs in on Trump's proposed tariffs and what they could mean for the future of global trade.Chapters: 00:00 Trailer00:31 Introduction02:07 Meeting smart people, seeing the world03:40 Eroded margins09:52 Charismatic and overconfident15:32 Not an overnight decision20:08 The founder has returned23:10 Redoing the hiring26:38 No substitute for passion31:00 Working for and with my brother37:28 Working with forwarders42:14 Being a founder can be lonely47:49 Life's work54:06 The right person for the job1:00:55 19 countries1:04:57 Blowing people up1:07:24 Work and being a good dad1:08:34 Not doing it for money and loving money1:17:52 Import and export tariffs1:22:57 De minimis1:25:54 Panama and the Suez Canal1:36:50 Going public1:42:24 Who Flexport is Hiring 1:42:42 What "grit" means to Ryan1:43:06 OutroMentioned in this episode: Founders Fund, Amazon, Toyota Motor Corporation, Slack, Brex, Pedro Franceschi, Henrique Dubugras, United States Customs and Border Protection, ImportGenius, Michael Kanko, Y Combinator, Paul Graham, Intel Corporation, Shopify, Geely Holding (Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd.), The Volvo Group, Intuit TurboTax, David Petersen, BuildZoom, TechCrunch, Google, Figma, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Jimmy Carter, Panama Canal Authority, United States Navy, Coinbase, Uber, AirbnbLinks:Connect with RyanXLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.comLearn more about Kleiner Perkins
Guest: Pedro FranceschiPedro Franceschi is the co-founder and CEO of Brex, a fintech company reshaping how businesses manage their finances.Originally from Brazil, Pedro went from teenage hacker to leading one of the most well-known names in modern financial technology—building a platform trusted by startups and enterprises alike.In this episode, Pedro shares what it took to launch “Brex 3.0,” why he moved to a single-CEO model, and how tough structural changes set the stage for leaner, faster growth.Chapters:00:00 Trailer00:46 Introduction01:45 Startup roller coaster05:21 Founders know how to have fun07:12 Belief barrier evolution12:00 Early state of life in Brazil13:23 Controlling variables15:32 Screen time19:23 Making small decisions23:27 Learning raises the bar26:15 People manager38:49 Getting underwater42:05 Growth accelerated47:51 Vision from the top down52:13 Leadership organization54:01 AI software engineering physics54:43 People complain about change59:42 Believers and non-believers1:04:09 Equity and bonus controversy1:08:40 Big swings and going public1:14:15 Control in unpredictability1:18:04 Living in a pixel1:19:52 Meditate, sleep, diet, exercise1:24:36 Mental health and stress1:33:12 Who Brex is hiring1:33:49 What "grit" means to Pedro1:34:39 OutroMentioned in this episode: Silicon Valley, Facebook, Meta Platforms, Inc., Mark Zuckerberg, Mastercard, Rio de Janeiro, iPhone, Bill Gates, Tim Urban, Jony Ive, Apple Inc., LinkedIn, Salesforce, Brian Chesky, Airbnb, Anthropic Claude, Cursor, Codeium Windsurf, Cognition Labs Devin, Vercel, Retool AI, Amplitude, Spenser Skates, Elon Musk, Tesla, Inc.Links:Connect with Pedro:XLinkedInConnect with Joubin:XLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.comThis episode was produced by Kleiner Perkins and edited by IQvideo.The trailer and distribution for this episode were handled by Atomik Growth.Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
Before Zscaler was a $32B cloud security giant, it was just 10 engineers—half in Bangalore, half in a borrowed U.S. office.As founder and CEO of Zscaler, Jay Chaudhry bet $50M of his own money on one radical idea: secure the internet in the cloud.Born in a Himalayan village with no electricity, he built Zscaler into one of the world's top cybersecurity giants.In this episode, Jay breaks down why 50% of the Fortune 500 trusts Zscaler, why he still interviews candidates, and how he's incubating the company's next big AI bet.Chapters:00:00 Trailer00:42 Introduction01:21 His fifth company04:26 Entrepreneurs' existential fear10:53 Customer engagement and new innovations12:46 No private jets, no business class19:34 “I never used money”23:38 Born and raised in India26:17 Hiring legends30:35 Walking on water35:09 “Dolphining”39:55 Areas of weakness42:11 Passionate even on the weekends44:56 Work during roller coasters47:35 The weight of the world is on your shoulders49:21 Leveraging AI56:20 OutroMentioned in this episode: Elon Musk, Microsoft, Bill Gates, BlackBerry, Steve Ballmer, Satya Nadella, Hewlett-Packard (HP), IBM, John Fellows Akers, Steve Jobs, NeXT, Inc., Linux, Cisco, United Airlines, San Francisco International Airport, Sundar Pichai, Ravi Mhatre, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Six Flags, AI (artificial intelligence), securityLinks:Connect with JayLinkedInConnect with JoubinXLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
Guest: Guy Rubin, Founder & CEO at EbstaMost B2B SaaS leaders know their top performers carry the team, but few understand why the performance gap keeps widening.The reality is that just 14% of reps are now responsible for 80% of revenue, and the gap between A-players and everyone else has grown to 11x. Fixing this isn't about more training or new tools—it's about creating consistent, data-driven sales execution across the entire go-to-market team.In this episode, Guy Rubin, Founder & CEO of Ebsta, shares insights from the 2025 B2B GTM Benchmark Report (in partnership with Pavilion) and explains how SaaS companies can close the performance gap, improve forecast accuracy, and drive revenue by making data and behavior work together.Key Takeaways:Top Performers Win with Consistency: The biggest gap isn't talent—it's execution at every stage of the funnel.AI Enables Better Selling, Not More Noise: When AI is used to extract insights, not automate spam, it becomes a game-changer.Full-Cycle Reps Are Back: 45% of companies are ditching the SDR model in favor of holistic sales ownership.Engagement Drives Forecast Accuracy: Momentum scoring predicts risk before it's too late to course-correct.Success = Process + Behavior + Data: Sales isn't just about gut feel anymore—it's finally becoming data-driven.Guy offers CROs and CMOs a blueprint to scale what works, eliminate what doesn't, and win more consistently—making this episode a must-listen.---Not Getting Enough Demos? Your messaging could be turning buyers away before you even get a chance to pitch.
In this episode of the Shoot the Moon podcast, Matt Lockhart and Ryan Barnett discuss the key questions buyers ask when considering acquiring an IT services firm. The discussion provides insights for IT services business owners preparing for a potential sale, emphasizing the importance of being prepared, transparent, and able to clearly articulate the company's value proposition and growth potential. They cover critical areas including:Strategic fit: how does this acquisition fit into the buyers service offerings? does it compliment it, fill gaps, or extend service offerings? making the buyer more valuable? market expansion?revenue modelgeographycustomer concentrationhow you have grownProfitabilityFlexibility on deal structureSynergies in Processes / Platforms: What tools are in place to deliverables? Back office, front office, CRM etc... Having financials in order: do you know your revenue, profit, margins? Tip: Having confidence in the number for the potential buyerLeadership & Retention post-transaction: What is the seller looking for?Go-to-Market Strategy: Assessing sales, marketing, and customer acquisition approaches RELATED EPISODES:Episode 186: Dealing with Customer Concentration when Selling your Business. Listen now >>Episode 170: How to Become a Platform Investment. Listen now >>Episode 148: 6 Things that could be Surprises to Sellers. Listen now >> Listen to Shoot the Moon on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.Buy, sell, or grow your tech-enabled services firm with Revenue Rocket.
Guest: Zac Bookman, CEO and Co-Founder of OpenGovThirteen years after co-founding the government transparency startup OpenGov, Zac Bookman is still finding ways to surprise people. In 2023, Cox Enterprises bought the company for $1.8 billion — but as far as Zac is concerned, “we're just getting started.”“ I left the vast majority of my net worth in the company,” he says. “So I'm a believer. I'm all in.”The mission of powering “more effective and accountable government” has been stable since OpenGov's earliest days, and that mission has informed everything from hiring to M&A to the decision to sell. “These people buy and don't sell,” Zac said of Cox. “They're all in on the mission. And they're all in on taking care of employees. So I see a triple win: A win for employees, win for the investors, win for the customers, maybe a quadruple win for me and the management.”Chapters:(01:46) - OpenGov's mission (04:34) - Shrinking the product-market fit (07:34) - Super misson driven (08:59) - Why OpenGov almost shut down (13:08) - Zac's early career (16:16) - Picking (and losing) a CTO (22:50) - Growing upside-down (25:29) - The SPAC backstabber (31:26) - Why Zac didn't get fired (33:24) - Selling in 2024 (37:04) - Growth by acquisition (42:31) - John Chambers and PMF (49:32) - Zac's cross-country bike ride (56:25) - Expectations vs. reality (58:57) - The coup attempt (01:01:59) - Tiring work (01:05:47) - Going to the White House (01:09:40) - DOGE & disrespect (01:12:54) - “We're just getting started” (01:14:18) - Who OpenGov is hiring (and where) (01:15:13) - What “grit” means to Zac Mentioned in this episode: Joe Lonsdale, Cox Enterprises, OpenAI, the Department of Government Efficiency, Workday, H.R. McMaster, Stanford University, Formation 8, 8VC, the National Academy of Sciences, the Stanford Review, Kamala Harris, Marc Andreessen, Balaji Srinivasan, Coinbase, Earn, Ben Horowitz, Facebook, Steve Laughlin, Cisco, Laurene Powell Jobs, Glynn Capital, Acme, Allen & Company, Harry You, Joe Tucci, EMC, Bill Green, Accenture, Tyler Technologies, HP, Josh Kushner, GTY Technology Holdings, John Keker, Palantir, CKAN, Oracle, Kevin McCarthy, The American Technology Council Summit, Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, Satya Nadella, Pat Gelsinger, Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, Elon Musk, Bill Clinton, and Al Gore.Links:Connect with ZacLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
In this episode of Confessions of a B2B Entrepreneur, join host Tom Hunt as he sits down with Kris Rudeegraap, founder and co-CEO of Sendoso, to explore his journey from non-technical founder to scaling a successful B2B gifting platform. Kris shares invaluable insights on founder-led sales, product marketing, and the effective use of AI in outbound sales.
Guest: Ben Chestnut, Former CEO and Co-Founder of MailchimpIf you find yourself selling your startup, then Mailchimp co-founder Ben Chestnut has some important advice for you: Get a dog. When Intuit bought Mailchimp in 2021 for $12 billion, the company asked Ben if he wanted to stay on as CEO, but he chose to “walk off into the sunset” and let the new owners take over. After that, he estimates it took 6 to 12 months before he stopped checking his email, social media, and calendar with the same level of stress a CEO might have. Adopting a dog, he discovered, forces you to “get OK with the voices in your head."“After the acquisition, that's all I do, I walk the dog,” Ben says. “And the dog was good therapy ... No judgments from a dog.”Chapters:(01:09) - Growing slow (03:06) - The long journey (07:48) - Is money a burden? (09:35) - Building globally in Atlanta (11:22) - Ben's upbringing (12:59) - The first 10 years (17:58) - Scaling to one billion emails (19:22) - Freemium (23:32) - No equity (26:00) - Deciding to sell (33:55) - “I'm a sunset guy” (35:29) - Stress and support (37:25) - Time with the parents (39:07) - Get a dog (42:24) - The voices in your head (46:03) - Serial and “Mailkimp” (53:00) - Hiring interviews (57:14) - Fitness routines (59:27) - Lights off (01:01:46) - AI & reinvention (01:06:30) - The worst days (01:09:15) - What “grit” means to Ben Mentioned in this episode: Intuit, Wolt, DoorDash, LinkedIn, Dan Kurzius, Salesforce, ExactTarget, Pardot, Constant Contact, Rackspace, Free by Chris Anderson, Wired Magazine, Charles Hudson, the Freemium Summit, Drew Houston, Dropbox, Evernote, Phil Libin, TechCrunch, Brian Kane, Catalyst Partners, Georgia Pacific, Scott Cook, Bing Gordon, Vinay Hiremath, Loom, Joe Thomas, Caltrain, Flickr, Saturday Night Live, Droga5, Cannes Film Festival, Strava, Twitter, LinkedIn, Nvidia, Glean, Rubrik, Amazon AWS, and Mechnical Turk.Links:Connect with BenLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
Guest: Srikrishnan Ganesan, Co-Founder & CEO of RocketlaneMost B2B SaaS leaders know that onboarding is important but underestimate its impact.The reality is that 97% of first-year churn is decided in the first 90 days, making onboarding the most critical stage in the customer journey and the defining factor in revenue growth and long-term customer success.In this episode, Sri Ganesan, Co-Founder and CEO of Rocketlane, shares how SaaS companies can transform onboarding from a fragmented process into a strategic advantage. From community-led growth to automation-driven efficiency, he reveals what top SaaS companies do differently to drive retention, expansion, and revenue acceleration.Key Takeaways:Onboarding Determines Retention & Growth: The first 90 days define whether customers will churn or expand.Community-Led Growth Builds Credibility: Building an engaged audience before launch fosters trust and momentum.Automation Eliminates Inefficiency: Siloed tools slow teams down; all-in-one platforms drive success.Market Validation is Critical: The biggest factor in startup success isn't the product—it's picking the right market. Sri shares actionable strategies for SaaS CMOs and CROs to create onboarding experiences that drive retention, expansion, and revenue acceleration—making this episode a must-listen.---Not Getting Enough Demos? Your messaging could be turning buyers away before you even get a chance to pitch.
Guest: Blake Scholl, Founder & CEO of Boom Supersonic“Passion and drive trumps knowledge and experience,” says Boom Supersonic CEO Blake Scholl. Long before he was running Boom — which earlier this year successfully tested the world's first privately-developed supersonic jet — he was enabling “the world's most obnoxious spam cannon” at Groupon, or designing a barcode-scanning game for retail shoppers.But eventually, Blake found the courage to be more audacious and do something closer to his lifelong love of aviation. He began educating himself about things he had never thought to learn, and tapping his LinkedIn network to get intros to the smartest people in the industry. “If you imagine yourself on like the day of IPO, 99 percent of what you needed to know to get to that day, you didn't know on day one,” he says. “So, why not take 99 percent to 99.5 percent, and work on the thing you really want to exist, even if you don't know anything about it yet?”Chapters: (01:07) - Blake on Boom's beginnings (01:52) - Breaking the sound barrier (05:23) - Concorde's legacy (09:36) - Navigating regulations (12:08) - Boomless supersonic flight (16:48) - The test flight (20:11) - Day-of nervousness (24:26) - Carrying passengers (26:55) - Cost & wi-fi (30:19) - “No middle seats” (32:35) - Hard tech (36:48) - What if Apple made a plane? (39:08) - Blake's career journey (43:29) - The risk of failure (49:12) - Finding the courage (52:49) - Balancing life with Boom (56:42) - Learning how to build a jet (01:00:20) - The power of LinkedIn (01:02:38) - Y Combinator Demo Day (01:08:24) - Richard Branson (01:11:38) - Dividing yourself (01:14:19) - Being a focused dad (01:20:05) - Exuberance vs. fear (01:24:15) - Hiring slowly (01:27:17) - What “grit” means to Blake Mentioned in this episode: Chuck Yeager, ChatGPT, the Apollo program, Elon Musk, SpaceX and Falcon 1, Boom Overture, Starlink, Boeing, Airbus, iPhone, Jony Ive, Uber, Airbnb, Anduril, United Airlines, American Airlines, Eclipse Aviation, Tesla, Scott Kirby, Mike Leskinen, Inktomi, Yahoo!, Amazon, Pelago, Google Ads, Kima Labs, Barcode Hero, Groupon, iPad, Eric Schmidt, Steve Jobs, Khan Academy, Sam Altman, Loopt, Virgin Atlantic, Paul Graham, Michael Seibel, Ashlee Vance, Bloomberg, Hacker News, Jared Friedman, Sen. Mark Kelly, SV Angel, Ron Conway, Virgin Galactic, Lockheed Martin, Gulfstream, Jeff Bezos, Jeff Holden, and How It's Made.Links:Connect with BlakeTwitterLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
Guest: Christina Richards, Fractional CMO & Author of Rise of the AI-Powered CMOMost B2B marketers think they're using AI effectively. The reality? Many are barely scratching the surface—and failing to leverage AI as a true revenue driver.Christina Richards, fractional CMO and author of Rise of the AI-Powered CMO, breaks down how AI is transforming go-to-market strategies, reshaping demand generation, and redefining the role of marketing leaders in B2B SaaS.The biggest shift? AI is moving from a tool for efficiency to an autonomous operator, changing how marketers engage customers, optimize campaigns, and drive pipeline growth. Those who fail to adapt will fall behind competitors who are already leveraging AI-driven personalization, predictive lead scoring, and hyper-targeted ad strategies.Christina shares actionable insights on how B2B CMOs and CROs can embrace AI—not just for automation, but as a strategic advantage to accelerate growth and revenue.Key Takeaways:AI is Now Critical Infrastructure: It's no longer just a tool for automation—it's transforming how companies generate revenue.CMOs Must Become Revenue Architects: The role of marketing leaders is shifting from brand builders to full-funnel revenue drivers.AI-Driven Search is Changing SEO: If your content isn't optimized for AI-generated search, your audience may never find you.Agentic AI is Here: Autonomous AI agents are moving from experiment to execution—marketers must prepare now.First-Party Data is a Competitive Advantage: With hyper-personalization on the rise, companies that don't own their audience data will struggle to compete.Get ready to rethink your marketing strategy in the age of AI—or risk being left behind.---Not Getting Enough Demos? Your messaging could be turning buyers away before you even get a chance to pitch.
Guest: George Kurian, CEO of NetAppFor almost 10 years, George Kurian has been CEO of the data infrastructure firm NetApp, overseeing its pivot to cloud services. After he took the job — a surprise promotion dropped on him just days before it was announced — he had to learn on the job how the job could be.“ There are a lot more stakeholders that a CEO has to deal with than a chief product officer,” George says, referring to his previous role. “There's also a lot more external commitment ... It was a really all-consuming effort to get the company turned around.”He said the CEO job can be “fairly lonely” because you may want to be peers or friends with your team and your board — but in fact, they are sometimes your subordinates and your superiors, respectively.“ We wouldn't be here without others having contributed significantly on the journey,” George says. “[But] there are times when you have to step back and say, ‘I see a pattern that my team is not seeing,' or ‘Do I think that we can do a better job than we are doing?'”Chapters:(01:10) - Commuting to Sunnyvale (04:49) - Growing up in India (08:04) - Protect the child (09:33) - Raising kids in Silicon Valley (12:44) - Money motivation (15:04) - NetApp's renaissance (21:39) - Writing new chapters (23:15) - Culture shifts (26:38) - Coming to NetApp (29:41) - Surprise! You're the CEO (32:41) - Making sacrifices (35:04) - Work vs. family tension (37:18) - Doubt & lonely decisions (42:38) - The data wave (45:27) - Enterprise AI (51:36) - Starting your own company (53:33) - Navigating difficulty (56:28) - Who NetApp is hiring (57:11) - What “grit” means to George Mentioned in this episode: EMC, OpenAI, DeepSeek, CalTrain, the San Francisco 49ers, Princeton University, Subway, Vons, Thomas Kurian, Google Cloud, Stanford University, Brian Cox, Oliver Jay, the Quakers, Jay Chaudhry, zScaler, Manmohan Singh, Oracle, IBM, Sun, Amazon, Microsoft, Glean, Kobe Bryant, Steph Curry, McKinsey, Akamai, Cisco, Gwen McDonald, and the San Francisco Friends School.Links:Connect with GeorgeLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
Guests: Winston Weinberg, CEO & co-founder of Harvey; and Ilya Fushman, partner at Kleiner Perkins“If you think about pretty much any job out there in the world, we will have some sort of [AI] copilot,” says Kleiner Perkins partner Ilya Fushman. “The question is, who are the right folks to build it, and what's their vision?”For Harvey CEO & co-founder Winston Weinberg, the vision is clear: Silicon Valley cannot and should not try to disrupt the legal profession by automating the job of lawyers. Instead, he says, they need to have “respect for the industry” before designing AI solutions that speed up specific tasks.“These industries are incredibly complex,” Winston says. “Legal is one of the oldest professions known to man. There are firms that are over a hundred years old. There are firms that are hundreds of years old, and having a brand that says, ‘We are partnering with the industry to transform it' versus ‘We are just going to steamroll the industry' is really important for us.”Chapters:(01:16) - The zeitgeist switch (02:58) - What is Harvey? (06:10) - Chief Law Officers (07:58) - Agentic workflows (09:43) - Ilya's investment thesis (12:48) - Collaborating with AI (16:05) - Task automation (20:52) - Why is it called Harvey? (23:14) - Respecting the legal industry (26:43) - Winston's past jobs (28:47) - First steps (32:13) - Scaling the company (35:02) - Scaling yourself (37:19) - Who works for Harvey (40:50) - Making mistakes (43:15) - Making sacrifices (45:51) - Growing too fast (50:50) - Setting priorities (54:54) - Harvey's competitors (57:38) - Internal virality (01:00:46) - Testing Harvey's limits (01:03:29) - Who Harvey is hiring (01:04:01) - What “grit” means to Winston Mentioned in this episode: ChatGPT, the Fortune 500, Microsoft Copilot, Gabe Pereyra, Activision, Excel, Counsel AI Corporation, Suits, Harvard University, Netflix, Dell, O'Melveny & Myers, Hueston Hennigan, Meta, Reddit, Jason Kwon, Anthropic, Marissa Mayer, Eric Schmidt, Google, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Glean.Links:Connect with WinstonTwitterLinkedInConnect with IlyaTwitterLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
Guest: Miki Kuusi, head of international at Doordash + CEO & co-founder of Wolt + co-founder of Slush tech conferenceBefore Miki Kuusi launched the Finnish delivery startup Wolt, which DoorDash acquired in 2022, he wasn't just another startup entrepreneur. From 2011 to 2015, Miki was the CEO of the hugely influential European tech conference Slush, which brings thousands of founders and VCs to Helsinki every winter. “You could argue that Slush was my university for things leading up to Wolt, and what I do today,” Miki says. “That's where I learned most of the core lessons that I put into action.” One thing he remembers thinking in those early days: Everything was going to be redefined by the internet.“I just wanted to get a shot at building one of these services of the next hundred years,” he says. “And that was the driving motivator for me. If the driving motivator had been money, I don't think we would be here today.”Chapters:(01:14) - Act 3 (03:36) - Unlocking local commerce (06:13) - Selling Wolt (09:27) - The competition (14:20) - DoorDash's and Wolt's origins (17:50) - “Maybe we're the idiots in the room” (22:44) - Difficult years (25:13) - Startups in Europe vs. U.S. (28:56) - Learning from DoorDash (31:51) - Market correction (35:24) - Delivery around the world (39:17) - “ Glorified recruiting companies” (42:31) - Convincing restaurants (44:11) - Slush (48:21) - The next mountain (54:13) - Ambition and concentration (59:58) - Family and distractions (01:04:34) - Email overload (01:07:07) - Time as currency (01:09:25) - Priorities and onboarding (01:15:49) - The power of culture (01:19:32) - Who Wolt and DoorDash are hiring (01:20:39) - What “grit” means to Miki Mentioned in this episode: Tony Xu, Uber, Lyft, Uber Eats, Postmates, Delivery Hero, GrubHub, DeepSeek, OpenAI, Anthropic, Kees Koolen and Booking.com, 83North, Supercell, DashPass, Wolt+, Microsoft Excel, Amazon, Parker Conrad and Rippling, Andreeseen Horowitz, Fortnite, WhatsApp, Barry's Bootcamp, and Slack.Links:Connect with MikiLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
Guest: Bobby Kotick, former CEO of Activision Blizzard; and Bing Gordon, general partner at Kleiner PerkinsIn 2020, when President Trump signed the executive order that would ban TikTok in the U.S., Bobby Kotick called his old friend Steven Mnuchin. The former Secretary of the Treasury told him that, if TikTok's U.S. operations were to be sold to an American company, Microsoft would be the only bidder.A couple calls later, he reached ByteDance founder and CEO Zhang Yiming, who said he'd rather sell to Bobby than Microsoft. Concerned about his ability to get the deal done solo, Bobby called Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and offered to make a joint bid. Nadella declined, but added, “ if the deal doesn't get done, we should sit down and talk about us buying Activision.” TikTok currently remains Chinese-owned, but three years later, Microsoft paid $75 billion for Activision Blizzard.Chapters:Mentioned in this episode: Harvard-Westlake School, Alison Ressler, Vivendi, Berkshire Hathaway, Bruce Hack and Arnaud de Puyfontaine, John Riccitiello and EA, Call of Duty, Bizarre Creations, Atari, Apple II, Commodore 64, Jean-Louis Gassée, Apple Lisa, Howard Lincoln, Philips, Magnavox Odyssey, Sutter Hill Ventures, Infocom and Zork, Toys-R-Us, Howard Hughes, E. Parry Thomas, Sun Valley, Thom Weisel, William Morris Endeavor, Guitar Hero, Davidson & Associates, Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham, World of Warcraft, Medal of Honor, Steven Spielberg, Michael Crichton, Chris Roberts, Overwatch, Tencent, Time Warner, Jeff Bewkes, Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In, Lina Khan, Samsung, Elon Musk, James L. Jones, UFC, E. Floyd Kvamme, Toy Story 2, Procter & Gamble, Ron Doornik, John Lasseter, Xerox PARC, Shigeru Miyamoto, Satoru Iwata, Goldeneye 007, James Bond, Barbara Broccoli, Oculus, Apple Vision Pro, Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, Sam Altman, Mustafa Suleyman, Spotify, Candy Crush Saga, Disney, Phil Spencer, Clarence Avant and Motown Records. Links:Connect with BobbyTwitterLinkedInConnect with BingTwitterLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
Guest: Nick Kokonas, co-founder of the Alinea Group and former CEO of TockAs of October 1, 2024, Nick Kokonas is no longer an owner of the Alinea restaurant group, which he co-founded and ran for almost 20 years. When he bought a vineyard in Napa Valley prior to the exit, one of his sons remarked, “He's given up. Time to go out to pasture.”Nick admits that the work ahead of him is “not the same” as the high-pressure world of a Michelin-starred restaurant in Chicago. But he's started working with the magician Nate Staniforth on a new restaurant concept that will present diners with illusions and surprises over the course of a two-hour experience. “If you want to feel wonder and feel childlike again, go see a magician,” Nick says. “[But] there's so much bad cultural baggage ... what we wanted to do was create an experience that is not really about magic.”Chapters:(02:29) - Celebrity restauranteurs (07:14) - The next act (12:30) - Buying the vineyard (15:37) - Fear is motivating (17:59) - Opening night (22:03) - Tongue cancer (27:56) - “OK, let's fix this” (31:10) - Selling experience (38:32) - The table plate (42:40) - Feeling full (44:14) - Next Restaurant and Tock (49:33) - Being still (51:19) - Nate Staniforth's lottery illusion (56:57) - The magic restaurant (01:02:29) - Being misunderstood (01:07:44) - Working via email (01:11:43) - “Enemies” (01:18:23) - Who Nick is hiring and what “grit” means to him Mentioned in this episode: Mike Gamson, Shaquille O'Neal, Jeff Kaplan, Steve Bernacki, Robin Anil, Grant Achatz, OpenTable, American Express, The Big Lebowski, The New York Times, eGullet, Gourmet Magazine, Roger Ebert, Eddie van Halen, Goodfellas, The Devil Wears Prada, Batman, the Chicago Bears, Madonna, Taylor Swift, Bavette's and Brendan Sodikoff, Pablo Picasso, Chef's Table, Google, Brian Fitzpatrick, Finding Real Magic, David Blaine, Mark Cuban, Mark Caro, Chicago Magazine, John Mariani, Cat Cora, Homaro Cantu, Dave Portnoy, Pete Wells, and Eric Asimov.Links:Connect with NickTwitterLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
Guest: Rick Smith, CEO & Founder of Axon (formerly TASER)Being a founder-CEO is a “unique superpower,” says Axon's Rick Smith: People like him get a longer leash from the board to try things that outside CEOs might not.“My job is to push risk into the organization,” Rick says. “If there's a project with a 50 percent chance of success, a 50 percent chance of failure, but it's going to pay 100 to 1, any finance person will tell you, you should take that bet all day long.”One of those bets was the transition from running a weapons company called TASER into a broader public safety firm called Axon, which makes cloud-supported body cameras fro police, tactical drones, AI records management software and more. “If we never have a product failure, then we're not taking risks anymore and we're going to end up getting disrupted,” Rick says.Chapters:(01:09) - Tasers vs. guns (03:35) - Axon's growth (07:09) - Biggest surprises (09:33) - How TASER got started (13:11) - Reinventing the taser (17:24) - A humiliating launch (23:33) - Rick's family (26:14) - The Auto Taser failure (30:21) - The darkest days (34:26) - Hans Marrero (37:25) - Family and burnout (42:49) - Rick's family (45:49) - Pivoting the business (51:37) - Axon body cameras (53:46) - Axon's current products (58:08) - Re-educating the cops (01:02:09) - Pushing risk (01:05:44) - Competing with the gun (01:10:16) - Exponential stock plans (01:14:17) - Who Axon is hiring (01:14:46) - What “grit” means to Rick Mentioned in this episode: UnitedHealthcare and Brian Thompson, Harvard University, human-machine interfaces, Star Wars, Timecop, Star Trek, Jack Cover, Project Apollo, Ed Owen; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; Tom Smith, Rodney King, the Sharper Image, Steve Filmer, Phil Smith, Silicon Valley Bank, Emil Michael, Bob Kagle, Benchmark, Norwest Ventures, Molly Wuthrich, Josh Isner, The Terminator, Ferrari, Richard Branson, Burning Man, Steve Jobs, Brenda Smith, Hadi Partovi, Amazon AWS, Microsoft, DraftOne, Ambience Health, OpenAI, Mark Zuckerberg, Michael Brown, Computer Aided Dispatch, Elon Musk and SpaceX, and Luke Larson.Links:Connect with RickTwitterLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
This episode is powered by Fellow AI Meeting Assistant. Get 90 days free at fellow.app/cooKey Takeaways:• Hidden C-Suite Job Market: The majority of C-level roles are filled through networking, talent partners, and executive recruiters before job postings are even considered.• Role of Networking: Building strong relationships within your industry and maintaining top-of-mind positioning with decision-makers is crucial.• Non-Traditional Candidates: Market shifts, such as the rise of AI and post-COVID changes, are creating opportunities for candidates from unconventional backgrounds.• AI in Executive Recruiting: True Search uses AI-driven tools like Thrive to manage data at scale, identifying the best candidates more efficiently.• Career Advice for COOs: Gaining hands-on experience in both value creation (product/tech) and value capture (go-to-market) functions can prepare COOs for CEO roles.• Culture Fit: Evaluating culture fit involves assessing how a candidate aligns with and enhances the company's existing culture without disrupting it.• The Board Member Journey: To be considered for a board position, candidates need specialized expertise and experience managing boards or navigating complex organizational challenges. Notable Quotes:• “Position yourself within your network as someone ready to step into a C-level role—start those conversations early.”• “If everyone's a thought leader, no one is a thought leader. Focus your voice and expertise on what truly adds value.”• “To be a successful CEO, you need to have hands-on experience in both product and go-to-market functions.” Evan's Unforgettable Moments:• Two finalists in a CEO search accidentally meeting mid-interview process due to scheduling overlap—illustrating the small-world nature of the C-suite ecosystem.• Delivering news to two candidates while they stood together on the sidelines of their kids' soccer game, showing how interconnected the executive world can be. Be sure to check out Fellow's AI Meeting Assistant and get 90 days free at fellow.app/coo.
Guest: Emilie Choi, president & COO of CoinbaseAfter the collapse of FTX in 2022, “the whole industry was tarnished,” recalls Coinbase COO Emilie Choi. “Politicians came out criticizing crypto, saying it was a fraud.”But unlike FTX, Coinbase was a public company in the U.S. So when the SEC served it a Wells notice, announcing its intent to charge the company with violating securities laws, the executive team took an unusual step: They went on the offensive, publicly calling BS on the agency.“Well-regarded CEOs from TradFi, they were like, ‘You don't do that,'” Emilie says. “'You don't antagonize your regulator.' ... It was a combination of chutzpah and maybe desperation that we were like, ‘We have to go tell our story, because if we don't, nobody else will.'”Chapters: (01:14) - Working with founder CEOs (04:12) - Mission first (07:16) - Reviewing candidates (09:48) - Unusual hiring (11:22) - Crypto after FTX (16:29) - Operation Choke Point 2.0 (19:19) - Grin and bear it (21:24) - Channeling negativity (24:21) - Going to war with the SEC (26:20) - Donald Trump and Gary Gensler (28:38) - Was it worth it? (31:19) - Shipping challenges (34:03) - OKRs and personal goals (36:41) - Brian Armstrong and structure (40:56) - The COO guidebook (43:30) - Removing bureaucracy (46:50) - Investing in crypto (49:41) - After Coinbase (53:03) - Constantly on (54:53) - Favorite interview questions (56:28) - Who Coinbase is hiring (58:28) - Standing for something Mentioned in this episode: Google Chat, executive coaches, Mark Zuckerberg, LinkedIn, Jeff Weiner, speed reading, Warner Bros., Elizabeth Warren, Sam Bankman-Fried, Wells notices, Paul Grewal, Chris Lehane, Airbnb, OpenAI, FOIA requests, Balaji Srinivasan, Dan Romero, Kevin Scott, Microsoft, Patrick McHenry, Ritchie Torres, Fairshake PAC, A16z, Ripple, Stand With Crypto, Dogecoin, Robinhood, Charles Schwab, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Paul Ryan, Faryar Shirzad, Kara Calvert, Elon Musk, Earn.com, Ben Horowitz, Bain Capital Ventures, Claire Hughes Johnson and Scaling People, Directly Responsible Individuals, Fidelity, BlackRock, Yahoo!, Stewart Butterfield, Brad Garlinghouse, Alibaba, Flickr, cognitive tests, and Loom.Links:Connect with EmilieTwitterLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
Guest: Sarah Franklin, CEO of LatticeAs the CEO of a growing company, Lattice's Sarah Franklin has learned that one of her most important contributions is taking a leap of faith. “You have to have the courage to be the first one to do it,” she says,” and to show that it can be done, and to pave the way so that then your team feels trust.”Sarah cautions, though, that sometimes courage is deciding to stop and go a different direction. As agentic AI becomes more common, the people building companies like Lattice should look to the “cautionary tales” of how social media and mobile phones have changed society, she says.“We can have the courage to say, what are the outcomes that we want to prevent? Or what are the outcomes that we want to make sure happen? This all takes, courage, because it's all unknown.”Chapters:(01:14) - Schooling in Mexico (04:09) - Raising brave children (10:28) - Sarah's upbringing (13:29) - The pursuit of money (16:23) - Measuring success (19:28) - Learnings, not regrets (22:55) - Make an impact (26:44) - Pitching Trailhead (32:56) - Elevating a B2B company (35:27) - How to colonize Mars (38:39) - Marketing, the Salesforce way (44:21) - Dolphining and truth-tellers (50:56) - Renewed purpose (56:30) - The challenges of being CEO (01:00:18) - Pave the way (01:03:25) - “Humanizing AI” (01:06:57) - Handling controversy (01:11:04) - Who Lattice is hiring and what “grit” means to Sarah Mentioned in this episode: FaceTime, Salesforce, Marc Benioff, Mahatma Gandhi, Instagram, the Fortune 500, Java, Jerry Maguire, National Parks, Nike, Michael Jordan, Apple and “Think Different,” Sara Varni, Scott Holden, Andy Kofoid, Databricks, Datadog, Behind the Cloud, Oracle, Microsoft, Elon Musk, Amazon AWS, George Hu, Mike Rosenbaum, Cheryl Feldman, Zac Otero, Guidewire Software, AI agents, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and LinkedIn.Links:Connect with SarahLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
Guest: David Heinemeier Hansson, CTO & co-owner of 37signals and creator of Ruby on Rails 37signals CTO David Heinemeier Hansson has organized his life around his passions: Writing, racing sports cars, and coding. “ Why aren't we all doing that?” he wonders. “Why aren't we all trying to optimize our life in such a way that much of it is enjoyable?”Part of the problem, David argues, is that it's impossible to find a creative or productive flow inside of mainstream work culture. Open offices, managerial over-hiring, and sloppy scheduling prevents people from reaching a flow state.“40 hours a week is plenty than most people,” he says. “... So many people today are focused on just adding more and more hours. They're not thinking about how those hours are spent.” Chapters:(01:19) - 24 Hours of Le Mans (06:48) - Amateurs in sports car racing (10:54) - Flow and meditation (15:25) - Mundane bulls**t (18:14) - Optimizing for flow (21:09) - Calendars and open offices (24:30) - Full-time managers (29:06) - Small companies (32:20) - Selfishness and work (40:21) - Taking other people's money (45:43) - Temptation (49:49) - Moderately rich (55:19) - “The day I became a millionaire” (58:56) - The hassle (01:03:58) - Achieving the dream (01:08:34) - Shopify and Tobias Lütke (01:14:50) - Trade-offs and downsides (01:18:43) - The impact of Ruby on Rails (01:22:02) - “I love being wrong” (01:25:37) - DEI and illegal drugs (01:29:49) - Not hiring (01:30:35) - What “grit” means to David Mentioned in this episode: TikTok, Minecraft, Mario Kart, Formula One, NASCAR, Lewis Hamilton, the NBA, Tesla Model S, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Steve McQueen, Jason Fried, Tetris, Bullshit Jobs: A Theory by David Graeber, Elon Musk and Twitter, the Dunbar number, Zappos, Google, Adam Smith, Stripe, Meta, Jeff Bezos, Basecamp, Zapier, 1Password, GitHub, SpaceX, private jets, Aesop, the Pagani Zonda, the Porsche Boxster, Lamborghini, Coco Chanel, LeBron James, Hey, Steve Jobs, Michael Arrington and TechCrunch, Y Combinator, Dr. Thomas Sowell,Punished by Rewards by Alfie Kohn, Grit by Angela Duckworth, and LEGO. Links:Connect with DavidTwitterLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
Join us as we delve into the fascinating world of gold and technology with Adam Trexler, founder of Valaurum. Learn about the innovative nanotechnology behind The Aurum®, a revolutionary way to store and use gold. Discover the challenges and triumphs of bringing this groundbreaking product to market and the vision for the future of money. Tune in to gain insights into entrepreneurship, innovation, and the potential of gold in the digital age.Support the showSubscribe at theshadesofe.com
On this special episode of Grit, we look back at some of the coolest stories and best advice our guests have shared in 2024. Chapters:(00:49) - David Risher on his Amazon easter egg & moving on (07:02) - Jason Kilar on bouncing between relevance & irrelevance (15:13) - Eoghan McCabe on "re-founding" the company he started (22:59) - Mark Fields on battling with Trump & running to the fire (29:41) - John Hanke on intensity and balance (38:00) - Rony Abovitz on whether losing he's bitter about losing Magic Leap to COVID (47:42) - Mark McLaughlin on sacrificing personal time (57:39) - Taylor Francis on building culture Listen to all of these episodes:#201 CEO Lyft, David Risher: The Ride#214 Former CEO Hulu & WarnerMedia Jason Kilar: No Labels#191 CEO & Co-Founder Intercom, Eoghan McCabe: Second Beginning#209 Former President & CEO Ford, Mark Fields: All Cylinders#203 CEO Niantic, John Hanke: Buried Ships#212 Founder Magic Leap & SynthBee Rony Abovitz: Underdog#202 Chairman of Qualcomm, Mark McLaughlin: The Right Pitch#189 Co-Founder Watershed, Taylor Francis: Worthy MissionsConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
Guest: Larry Baer, CEO of the San Francisco GiantsIn 1992, Larry Baer was part of the ownership group that bought the San Francisco Giants and successfully prevented the team from being moved to Tampa, Florida. Back then, they had a big problem to solve: An old, uncomfortable ballpark that voters wanted to see replaced, but didn't want to pay for.20 years after the construction and financial success of Candlestick Park's replacement, Oracle Park, Baer — now the CEO of the Giants — embarked on an even bigger project, developing an entire neighborhood near Oracle called Mission Rock. “We're in the baseball business, but really, we're in the media, entertainment, sports, real estate business,” he says. Chapters:(01:05) - Growing up a fan (04:37) - Larry's dad (07:28) - Stopping the move (13:28) - The Giants in 1992 (15:18) - “What am I doing here?” (19:31) - Hiring with urgency (23:34) - Last out to first pitch (27:45) - Buster Posey (30:13) - The Candlestick problem (36:36) - Making a new stadium (43:00) - Always hungry (45:01) - Becoming CEO (49:52) - Homegrown talent (52:55) - The Mission Rock neighborhood (57:27) - Revitalizing San Francisco (01:03:20) - “It all starts here” (01:07:20) - What Oracle Park means (01:09:52) - What “grit” means to Larry Mentioned in this episode: Barry Bonds, Candlestick Park, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal, Josh Harris, Larry and Bob Tisch, CBS, Peter Magowan and Safeway, Charles Schwab, Don Fisher, Bill Hewlett, Arthur Rock, Charles Johnson, Harmon Burns, Bank of America, Walter Shorenstein, Dianne Feinstein, Bob Lurie, Bobby Bonds, Dennis Gilbert, Roger Craig, Al Rosen, Dusty Baker, Bob Quinn, Brian Sabean, George Steinbrenner, Bob Lillis, Matt Williams, Greg Johnson, the 1994 baseball strike, Chase Manhattan Bank, Warren Hellman, Jimmy Lee, Pacific Bell, Coca-Cola Company, J.T. Snow, Jeff Kent, Bill Neukom, Brandon Crawford, Brandon Belt, Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner, Sergio Romo, Hunter Pence, Marco Scutaro, Joseph Lacob and the Golden State Warriors, Tishman Speyer, Al Kelly, Ryan McInerney, Visa, Che Fico, Arsicault, Trick Dog and Josh Harris, the Chase Center, Sam Altman and Open AI, Anthropic, Daniel Lurie, Salesforce and Dreamforce, Imagine Dragons, Pink, the Moscone Center, and Billy Crystal. Links:Connect with LarryLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
Guest: Tony Vinciquerra, outgoing CEO of Sony PicturesTony Vinciquerra never planned to get into the entertainment business, let alone to become one of the most powerful people in Hollywood. After seven years, he's about to leave the CEO role at Sony Pictures (although he will stay on as chairman for one more year) and attributes much of his success to luck: “I've been in the right place at the right time a lot of times.” That said, he also encourages his children to proactively be curious, something that has served Tony well across his whole career. “I don't have as deep an education as many of the people that [I] compete with,” he says. “So I try to make up for that by knowing what's going on and being more curious ... working harder at it and being more — I don't know what the right word is, but sucking more information in, all the time.”Chapters:(00:54) - The perks of being a studio boss (03:38) - Hulu and Peter Chernin (06:41) - Fox Television (10:03) - Building relationships (13:37) - Not retiring (15:34) - Fixing Sony (23:29) - Intellectual property (26:58) - Juggling and baseball (29:30) - Setbacks and cable networks (34:58) - The WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes (37:22) - AI and replacing writers (39:46) - Adapting to new tech (44:38) - Changing consumer behavior (49:25) - Sports media and live TV (55:31) - Bad days (58:57) - Tony's family (01:02:47) - Looking back (01:05:04) - Proactive curiosity (01:07:33) - What “grit” means to Tony Mentioned in this episode: Jason Kilar and Warner Bros., Jeff Zucker, John Waldron and Goldman Sachs, FX, Drayton McLane, Netflix, Variety, PlayStation, Spider-Man, Tom Rothman, CBS and Paramount, Comcast and NBC, Disney, Mike Hopkins, Amazon Prime, Funimation, Crunchyroll, Breaking Bad, The Last of Us, HBO, Uncharted, WBZ-TV, the Game Show Network, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, Joker: Folie à Deux, Miramax, Here, Tom Hanks, Venom: The Last Dance, Michael Ovitz, Sam Altman and OpenAI, Pixomondo, Neal Mohan and YouTube, Susan Wojcicki, DirecTV and AT&T, NFL Sunday Ticket, Qualcomm, the New York Knicks, the Golden State Warriors, Larry Baer and the San Francisco Giants, Major League Baseball, Walmart and Vizio, Madame Web, Capital Cities, Mark McLaughlin, and Mark Fields and Ford.Links:Connect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
In this episode, Pete Vanderveen, an experienced leader in scaling and go-to-market strategies, discusses his journey from building companies in various sectors to transforming and turning around distressed companies. Key themes include the importance of human-centric leadership, understanding the unique strengths of team members, and the pitfalls of traditional corporate structures. Pete shares his holistic approach to problem-solving and the value of empowering employees for sustainable growth. The conversation also touches on servant leadership, the necessity of collaboration, and actionable strategies for operational improvement in small to mid-sized companies. Episode Highlights: 03:25 The Importance of Human-Centric Leadership 08:47 Characteristics of a Healthy Organization 11:39 Pete's Business Model and Approach 15:45 Transformational Leadership and Servant Leadership Pete Vanderveen is the Founder and CEO with over 20 years of expertise in scaling and go-to-market strategies. As a passionate leader, husband, and father, Pete is dedicated to empowering businesses through a hands-on, collaborative approach that guarantees sustainable growth. He doesn’t just advise—he actively works alongside teams to transform distressed companies into high-growth success stories. With a track record of revitalizing over 50 brands and generating more than $500 million in ARR, Pete specializes in solving complex challenges and implementing sound business fundamentals to unlock potential and drive significant returns. How to connect with Pete: Website: amptgrowthpartners.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pete-vanderveen/ For more insights: Follow me on my YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/47GgMdn Sign up for my Weekly Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3T09kVc Sign up for my LinkedIn Newsletter: https://bit.ly/49SmRV3See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Guest: Jeff Wilke, former CEO of Amazon Worldwide Consumer and chairman of Re:Build ManufacturingJeff Wilke worked more than 20 years at Amazon, overseeing the million-person team that speedily gets packages from warehouses to doorsteps. In hindsight, he observes that Amazon Prime's exponential growth was actually an incremental daily process.“I used to say things like, ‘If God was running this plant, whoever is your God ... they can't violate physical laws. How well would they do?' And then we know where we are,” Jeff says.“If we're perfect in it, compounding over all this time, we're going to get there. But when you're in the middle of it, it can feel almost impossible.” Chapters:(01:37) - Grit and longevity (02:24) - Flow state (07:29) - Refining mental models (12:29) - The ivory tower and the shop floor (16:49) - Gnarly holidays (20:41) - Identifying grit (24:28) - Reflecting and learning (27:36) - Christmas 2000 (31:06) - The duplicate bug (34:01) - Incremental progress (38:36) - Prime Video (43:05) - Organizing the day (46:42) - Amazon's leaders (49:55) - The Whole Foods acquisition (53:33) - Amazon Fashion (59:54) - The great Kindle battle (01:02:40) - How to work with Jeff Bezos (01:05:11) - Leaving Amazon (01:09:48) - Re:Build Manufacturing (01:14:35) - What “grit” means to Jeff Mentioned in this episode: Peloton, Andy Jassy, Daniel Kahneman, Zoom, Allied Signal, Toyota and the Gemba Walk, MacKenzie Scott, Bob Thomas and Crucibles of Leadership, David Risher, Toys “R” Us, Amazon Prime, Jeff Blackburn, Louis Pasteur, Netflix, Bill Carr, Steve Kessel, Larry Bossidy, Rick Dalzell, West Point, John Mackey, Liesl Wilke, Tony Hsieh, the Met Gala, Anna Wintour, the Pittsburgh Steelers, Tim Tebow, the New York Jets, Shopbob, Gucci, Zara, Cathy Beaudoin, Walmart, Dave Clark, John Doerr, Bill Baumol, and Bing Gordon.Links:Connect with JeffTwitterConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
Guest: Dan Streetman, CEO of TaniumA graduate of West Point who served in Iraq combat operations, Tanium CEO Dan Streetman can't help but compare his business career to his military experience. Understanding huge structures and processes is a crucial skill at both Tanium and in the Army, he says, as are the skills for aligning people around a shared mission.“Before you go on an operation, you write a thing called an operations order ... [and] one of the most important things at the operations order is this paragraph called the commander's intent,” he explains, “which describes how you believe the mission is going to be accomplished and why it's important.”“You may end up doing something completely different. But as long as you understand the mission and the commander's intent, the organization can do amazing things.”Chapters:(01:05) - Election Day (02:44) - Ranger School (06:42) - Parenting and business school (09:59) - Military structures (12:27) - Serving in Iraq (15:59) - Back to normal life (21:37) - Working out (24:14) - Quality sleep (26:37) - Non-founder CEOs (31:35) - Getting the job (35:56) - Earning respect (38:49) - TIBCO (43:40) - Redline (46:37) - Going public (53:54) - Time horizons (58:35) - Free AI (01:03:11) - Whar “grit” mans to Dan (01:03:40) - Who Tanium is hiring Mentioned in this episode: Ronald Reagan, Terri Streetman, Ironman Triathlons, Jeff Bezos and Amazon, Stanley McChrystal, Jon Abizaid, Charles Jacoby, Thomas Siebel and C3, Salesforce, Bill McDermott, Carl Eschenbach, Marc Benioff, Garmin, Mark McLaughlin, Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke, World Series of Poker, Amdocs, David and Orion Hindawi, Citrix, Harvard University, Pets.com, Ben Horowitz, Vista Equity Partners, Vivek Ranadivé, Robert Smith, Operation Warp Speed, BreakLine, Bipul Sinha and Rubrik, Mikhail Gorbachev, F. Scott Fitzgerald, OpenAI and ChatGPT, and Google.Links:Connect with DanLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
Guest: Josh Silverman, CEO of EtsyWhen Josh Silverman joined the board of Etsy, he had one condition: “Don't ask me to the be the CEO.” And technically, they didn't ask. One day, he got a phone call informing him the board had elected him as the new CEO, just days before an earnings miss. He knew the odds were against him — layoffs would be necessary, and “I was going to have to be the villain” — but decided to say yes out of a sense of duty to Etsy's users and workers. “If I can be helpful, I have a responsibility to do it,” Josh says.Chapters:(00:55) - Energy management (02:42) - Meetings (09:56) - Etsy's strategy (13:36) - Learning to delegate (17:10) - Setting an example (24:17) - Evite's rise and fall (27:46) - Self vs. company (30:22) - Legacy (34:21) - Control and agency (37:44) - Joining Etsy's board (40:40) - Becoming CEO (46:16) - Culture shock (48:09) - “We need you, trust us” (51:25) - eBay and Skype (57:15) - Pushed out (01:00:40) - Accountability and family (01:03:53) - Time horizons (01:05:55) - Gen AI-supported art (01:08:29) - Who Etsy is hiring and what “grit” means to Josh Mentioned in this episode: Ken Chenault and American Express, Nick Daniel, Rachana Kumar, Ticketmaster and IAC, Etsy Studios, Silverlake, Shopping.com, Google, Microsoft, and Austin City Limits. Links:Connect with JoshLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
Guests: Varun Mohan, CEO & Co-Founder of Codeium; and Leigh Marie Braswell, partner at Kleiner Perkins“A lot of people are really bad at knowing what good is,” says Codeium CEO Varun Mohan. Specifically, he's thinking of startups that hire based on a “logo” — a well-known company on the résumé — rather than exceptional talent. Codeium is based in Mountain View, CA, and Varun believes that it's incumbent on any new startup to hire in the San Francisco Bay Area, because of how exceptional talent is concentrated there. “When you hire someone that's 10x better,” he says, “you can't replace them with 10 1x people. Because the the 10x person is going to be thinking of ideas that none of these 1x people are ever going to think of.”Chapters:(01:05) - Ludicrous growth (03:54) - Seizing opportunity (07:29) - Product-market fit (13:05) - Scale AI & MIT (17:42) - Coding efficiency (22:58) - Larger companies (25:20) - Varun and Leigh Marie's working relationship (29:51) - Pivoting to Codeium (34:00) - Giving away the product (37:01) - The code-gen landscape (42:20) - Annual reinvention (45:00) - Picking a problem (47:07) - Bipul Sinha's help (50:43) - Ambition (53:13) - Building in Silicon Valley (55:11) - Spotting talent (59:11) - Who Codeium is hiring (59:43) - What “grit” means to Varun Mentioned in this episode: Graham Moreno, Wiz, ChatGPT, Google, Nuro, Goldman Sachs, Waymo, the DARPA Challenge, Alex Wang, Douglas Chen, Safeway, Equinox, Carlos Delatorre and MongoDB, The Qualified Sales Leader by John McMahon, GitHub Copilot, Microsoft, Exafunction, Mamoon Hamid, Figma, JPMorgan Chase, Starlink, SpaceX, Rubrik, Michael Dell, Stripe, and John Doerr.Links:Connect with VarunLinkedInTwitterConnect with Leigh MarieLinkedInTwitterConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
Yana Tornoe joins Sales POP! to discuss strategies for AI startups transitioning from concept to product-market fit. She emphasizes proactive market research, balancing innovation with customer needs, and refining offerings based on data. Yana explores the shift from AI bots to agents, addresses the role of data quality, and highlights AI's role as an assistant, not a replacement. By focusing on seamless onboarding, building trust through security, and extracting value from tools like Slack, Yana shares a clear framework for AI entrepreneurs to thrive in an evolving market.
Guest: Sal Khan, founder of Khan AcademyAI is poised to change nearly every business, but few are changing as quickly as education. And Sal Khan, who has spend more than a decade manually creating more than 7,000 educational videos, says that's a good thing. He's encouraged Khan Academy to focus on “disrupt[ing] ourselves ... more than almost any other organization that I know of.” The reason is backed up by the data: Personalized tutors — designed to help students achieve mastery in a subject, but previously thought to be unscalable — could shift the educational bell curve “significantly to the right,” Sal says.Chapters:(00:52) - John and Ann Doerr (05:20) - Khan Academy's origins (07:42) - What it is now (12:43) - Emotional fortitude (15:25) - Generating revenue (19:36) - The two-sigma “problem” (21:31) - OpenAI and Sam Altman (24:47) - What AI can do (27:56) - Cheating and other fears (30:06) - Video production (34:08) - Standardized tests (38:36) - AI tutors' tone (40:22) - Not leaving the closet (43:20) - Who Khan Academy is hiring (45:58) - What “grit” means to Sal Mentioned in this episode: Nasdaq, Dan Wohl, Vedic and Buddhist literature, Microsoft, Benjamin Bloom, ChatGPT, the Turing Test, Greg Brockman, Donald Trump, Bing Chat and Sydney, Khanmigo, the SAT and ACT, Schoolhouse.world, Craig Silverstein and Google, John Resig and jQuery, and Angela Duckworth.Links:Connect with SalTwitterLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
In this episode of the OpsStars podcast, Ilana Matro, Senior Manager of Sales Operations at MongoDB, joins Don Otvos to explore MongoDB's transition from a license-based model to a consumption-based go-to-market strategy. They discuss the challenges and opportunities in implementing this new model, its impact on forecasting, sales processes, and the overall organizational structure.
Guest: Matt MacInnis, COO of RipplingOne of the most important things a non-founder can do, says Rippling COO Matt MacInnis, is to learn how to operate in the context of the company they're joining. His CEO, Parker Conrad, “spikes” in certain skill areas, and the rest of the executive team needs to maximize his ability to thrive while “taking care of the rest of it.” Matt likened the work to being a hobbyist airplane pilot, who can't get a license without knowing all the minute details about their plane's engine and aerodynamics. “You can't be a good pilot if you don't understand the engine, because if something goes wrong, you want to be able to troubleshoot it,” he says. “An executive coming in to fly your airplane better learn the engine.”Chapters:(01:08) - Telling Rippling's story (04:27) - Founding & failing at Inkling (09:30) - Different types of hard (13:55) - Discipline and stamina (15:22) - Meeting with Steve Jobs (19:20) - Definitely, give up! (22:29) - Product-market fit (27:15) - Founders and culture (33:24) - Executive instincts (36:06) - Talent Signal and AI (40:06) - 150 former founders (44:08) - Zero to one projects (48:06) - The failure of Silicon Valley Bank (55:25) - Routines and discipline (59:37) - Disagreeing with Parker (01:02:25) - Who Rippling is hiring (01:03:37) - What “grit” means to Matt Mentioned in this episode: Parker Conrad, London Breed, Apple, Sequoia Capital, Sapphire Ventures, Tenaya Capital, digital textbooks on iPad, Oricom, Netscape, Peter Cho, Eddy Cue, John Couch, iBooks, Slack, Airbnb, Paul Graham, Brian Chesky, “founder mode,” Larry Ellison, Ivan Zhao and Notion, Intel and ARM, Salesforce, United Airlines, LLMs, GitHub, DocuCharm, Peter Thiel, Mamoon Hamid, Expensify, Navan, Costco, Comcast, HBO's Silicon Valley, Jensen Huang and NVIDIA, and Taylor Swift.Links:Connect with MattLinkedInTwitterConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
Guest: Jason Kilar, former CEO & co-founder of Hulu and former CEO of WarnerMediaWhen Jason Kilar was a child, he was obsessed with Walt Disney — not just as a filmmaker or the creator of Disneyland, but as an entrepreneur. He started his career at the Walt Disney Company (where else?) but then got his first opportunity to help build something new when a young startup entrepreneur from Seattle visited his business school classroom. Most of Jason's classmates predicted the failure of this startup, Amazon.com, which elicited “this awesome laugh, the Jeff Bezos trademark laugh.” How a leader reacts to criticism or doubts, Jason learned, says a lot about their conviction and intelligence.Chapters:(01:08) - Bing Gordon and John Doerr (04:11) - Warner Bros. (06:12) - Walt Disney (11:10) - Working at Disney (14:32) - What makes it special (18:31) - Meeting your heroes (20:06) - “Walt's folly,” Disneyland (22:45) - Harvard and Amazon (25:09) - Meeting Jeff Bezos (29:10) - “Help people understand Amazon exists” (33:25) - Amazon's culture (38:07) - What Warner Bros. makes (40:55) - Obscurity and relevance (45:53) - Feeling the lows (50:09) - Launching Hulu (53:36) - NewCo or ClownCo? (59:13) - Over-communication (01:03:14) - The future of TV memo (01:06:46) - Innovator's dilemma (01:08:57) - No labels (01:14:04) - Unfinished business (01:16:22) - Staying present (01:20:26) - The theatrical window (01:26:19) - What's next? Mentioned in this episode: Amazon, The Matrix, Star Wars: A New Hope, Disney World, Diane Disney Miller, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Michael Eisner, Universal Studios and Harry Potter, Disney University, Jeffrey Rayport, Barnes & Noble, Joel Spiegel, David Risher, Joy Covey, Garry Trudeau and Doonesbury, Andy Jassy, Brian Birtwistle, Jim Kingsbury, Vessel and Verizon, HBO, Friends, Hogwarts Legacy, Sony, Netflix, NBCUniversal, Paramount, AT&T, Discovery, Richard Tom, Kara Swisher, Fox, YouTube and Google, Saturday Night Live, Peter Chernin, Jeff Zucker, Bob Iger, Andy Rachleff and Benchmark, CBS, Miracle on 34th Street, Marissa Mayer and Yahoo, Rony Abovitz and Magic Leap, House of the Dragon and Industry, Dune, Christopher Nolan, and the TSA.Links:Connect with JasonTwitterLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
Guests: Joe Thomas, CEO and co-founder of Loom; and Ilya Fushman, partner at Kleiner PerkinsLoom CEO Joe Thomas had a lot of things to think about before he sold his company to Atlassian for $975 million: The impact an acquisition might have on the product, how to keep the Loom brand alive, the risk of remaining independent... but it wasn't until after the deal was announced that he really understood what it meant for his team. “I didn't know how emotional it'd be for me,” Joe says. “All of the Loom employees, current and former, that reached out when this was announced, they did their calculation and they're like, ‘Oh my God.' That, to me, was the most emotionally transformative part of the process. I didn't fully recognize what that would be like, on the individual front.”Chapters:(01:34) - The Atlassian acquisition (05:25) - The bittersweet moment (08:15) - Transforming Loom (13:30) - Ilya's perspective (18:04) - Life-changing (22:55) - Doing it again (25:00) - Loom's early days (28:26) - The Series A (32:33) - Turning on monetization (35:37) - The Series B (37:05) - Loom AI (43:13) - Revenue orientation (48:18) - The acquisition landscape (52:27) - Working inside Atlassian (54:04) - Atlanta tech (55:00) - Who Atlassian is hiring (55:24) - What “grit” means to Joe Mentioned in this episode: Wilson Sonsini, Vinay Hiremath, Andrew Reed and Sequoia Capital, Zoom, Mike Cannon-Brookes, Shahed Khan, COTU Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Scott Farquhar, the Lindy Effect, SVB, Google Chrome, Dropbox, Slack, Snapchat, HubSpot, the Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter, Dylan Field and Figma, Atlassian Rovo, Palo Alto Networks, Salesforce, and Garrett Langley and Flock Safety.Links:Connect with JoeLinkedInTwitterConnect with IlyaTwitterLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
Guest: Rony Abovitz, founder & CEO of SynthBeeSynthBee CEO Rony Abovitz grew up “really believing” in Star Wars and the idea that there could be benevolent, artificially intelligent beings like R2-D2 and C-3PO.“It wasn't a dystopian vision of the future,” he says. “It wasn't HAL from 2001. It wasn't the Terminator. It wasn't Skynet. It was this kind of friendly, empathetic, more utopian vision.” George Lucas himself told Rony to tone it down and not “take it so literally” — but he was undeterred. The way he describes today's leading AI powers sounds like an idealistic Rebel conceptualizing the Evil Empire.“You've got companies that receive massive funding that want to take all the data in the world ... I feel that's a massive mistake,” Rony says. “We become serfs. They become the Lords. They become the Kings. I'm completely opposed to that. So I started to imagine for SynthBee what is a different form of computing intelligence, one that could help us, but have much more safety [and] human centrism.”Chapters:(01:12) - Fundraising (02:27) - Meeting John Doerr (07:05) - The Beast (10:06) - Unfinished business (11:47) - Apple and Meta (15:20) - The COVID-19 pandemic (21:12) - “Investors panicked” (25:28) - Shaquille O'Neal vs. digital Shaq (29:43) - Magic Leap alumni (32:45) - Financial outcomes (38:27) - Peggy Johnson (40:27) - “A weird version of hell” (44:08) - A strange intro to Google (50:42) - Larry Page and Sergey Brin (54:27) - Founder voting power (01:00:40) - Mako Surgical (01:03:04) - The 9/11 term sheet (01:06:40) - The worst pitch ever (01:09:55) - The 2008 IPO (01:16:15) - Selling to Stryker (01:18:30) - What is SynthBee? (01:26:44) - Humility in tech (01:31:44) - Who SynthBee is hiring Mentioned in this episode: Scott Hassan, Bing Gordon, Chewy, Mary Meeker, Suitable Technologies and Beam, NASA, Mark Zuckerberg, Matthew Ball, NTT Docomo, Blade Runner, Wired Magazine, CES, Dow Jones, Tesla, Zoom, OpenAI and Anthropic, Adam Silver and the NBA, John Monos, the Apple Vision Pro, Madden NFL, McLaren, Satya Nadella and Microsoft, the HoloLens, Godzilla and King Kong, Willow Garage and ROS, Trading Places, Z-KAT, Frederic Moll, John Freund, Christopher Dewey, John and Christine Whitman, Sycamore Ventures, Andy Bechtelstein, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley, Kevin Lobo, Muhammad Ali, Star Wars and George Lucas, Yuval Noah Harari, and Infosys.Links:Connect with RonyLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
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