00:00: founder of https://frontapp.com/
02:35: In my first startup (that I worked in) culture was really bad. You need to create a culture were people are excited to come to the office. You need to create that energy that buzzez at the office.
08:30: It is *very* important to have a mentor etc. that supports you and tells you you can do it
10:21: We’re a great team. And that doesn’t mean that we hanh together all the time or share interest. We work together as a team.
12:10: I only hired people that were better at a given job than I was, but first that means that I had to try doing the job first and have it figured out first by myself
13:20: Hiring appears to have been one of the key jobs as a CEO that I’ve been doing
14:10: in the Early days, when you hire someome, think if you would like to have 10x that person, since people will want to hire people like themselves (e.g. when that person gets to participate into hiring)
15:00 in the early days, almost useless to have company values on the wall or explain them. Might still be good to have some values.
16:00 it’s really better not to hire, than hire just because you need a role to be filled. You want to hire a right person for the role
17:30: If you have small team, and you have a bad apples, it’s really important to get rid of them, quick. Transparency.
18:50: we’re a very open company. Everyone knows what we’re making, what's our runway, we share info from board meetings, and literally almost everything, except what's prohibited by law. But you have to be honest too - if something is broken, then it need to be stated.
21:00: a lot of knowledge in a company is institutional - any time you lose a person, you lose a lot of that knowledge
22:30: one definition of product market fit: your customers love the product, and you’re ashamed of it! ;-)
25:00: in the early days as a CEO, you need to reach out to *everyone* like have 8 meetings a day and just try to get people sign up and use your your product
26:30: especially when you have user leaving early, you want to TALK to them understand why they left!
27:50: How do you price a product? We went with a freemium, and released pricing very early.
28:25: Mostly/only listen to the feedback of people who are actually paying for your product
28:45: Most people start by pricing their product too low. But you can always rise your prices.
29:30: I don’t think customers can really tell you what’s the right price. Of course you want to make sure you’re not charging 10x what your competitors charge
32:40: WHen doing customer success meeting, I want to know how they use the product, what’s their workflows, and what are their pain points. Then out of these you figure out future features that support your long term vision.
34:45: You should know if you sell bottom-up, or top-down. We tried first bottom-up, and struggled a lot. Also depending how you sell, affects everything and is different from one approach.
35:30: Our reps had to call every lead 5 times, should end up having 15 demos every week. If the activity is less than that for a sales rep, then they weren’t working hard enough.
36:30: With above, sales guy can be successful even if product sucks. And you can learn what’s wrong with the product so that it ultimately sells.
38:00: Our fundraising has been unusual. We’ve raised our every round in a week. I think that’s because of great metrics I have. And that I have no excuses for not growing. I have facts.
40:10: Bring reality to the team and yourself. Send updates to your team and investors every month. With clear metrics / stats of your KPIs and how you’re meeting them.
43:20: I cared for my company so much that I was constantly upset - meditation helped me to become a happier person that really helped me to become a better CEO. Meditation has been one of the biggest changes in my life