B2BaCEO (with Ashu Garg)

Kevin Johnson led two companies in very different stages of growth. Here’s how he did it and what he looks for in new hires. ___ Ratuken buys Ebates https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ebates-m-a-rakuten/rakuten-says-to-buy-u-s-rebate-site-operator-ebates-for-1-billion-idUSKBN0H40JM20140909 Kevin Johnson becomes CEO of Udemy https://about.udemy.com/press-releases/udemy-board-appoints-kevin-h-johnso...

Two-time founder Mohit Aron tells me how blueprints and checklists can guide your startup in its earliest stages. ___ Mohit goes into more detail about his entry point framework https://rajeshsetty.com/2017/06/29/mohit-aron-evaluating-ideas/ Cohesity is on CNBC’s Disruptor 50 list https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/14/cohesity-2019-disruptor-50.html More about Geoffrey Moore, creator of the “technology...

Burton Goldfield tells me his CEO strategy: know the results you want and build your company towards achieving them. ___ TriNet goes public https://www.mercurynews.com/2014/03/27/san-leandro-trinet-ipo-gives-east-bay-a-new-1-billion-company/

Aaron tells me how to scale your company while maintaining its culture and the benefits of going public. ___ More about Andy Grove’s 10X theory https://thekeypoint.org/2018/03/19/only-the-paranoid-survive/ Aaron talks more about maintaining company culture while scaling https://firstround.com/review/Aaron-Levie-on-How-to-Scale-10x-as-a-CEO-Built-a-Billion-Dollar-Business/ A Box employee makes his...

Dorm room startup co-founder Aaron Levie tells me how he made the decision to pivot Box from a consumer product to an enterprise solution. ___ Getting Mark Cuban https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-a-cold-email-brought-mark-cuban-to-box-11554474601 Aaron’s 2006 email to an investor about the need to pivot https://www.fastcompany.com/1787627/starred-how-box-cofounder-aaron-levie-enticed-vcs-mark-cuban...

Zoom founder and CEO Eric Yuan tells me why and how happiness is an essential part of his multi-billion-dollar company. ___ Glassdoor names Zoom the best tech company to work for in 2019 https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/best-tech-companies-2019/ … and the second best company to work for overall https://www.glassdoor.com/Award/Best-Places-to-Work-LST_KQ0,19.htm Zoom’s first customer https://blog.zoom...

The man, the maniac.

Tien Tzuo, Co-Founder and CEO of Zuora, tells me how he tells his company’s story when he pitches to customers and investors and how to scale up to $1 billion. ___ Tien’s book https://www.zuora.com/subscribed/author/ Zuora prepares for its IPO https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/11/zuora-prices-ipo-at-14-per-share--valuing-the-company-at-1-point-44-billion.html Tien’s daughter rings the opening bell http...

Frederic Laluyaux’s first startup flopped but he has taken that experience with him to his current position as president and CEO of Aera Technology. Frederic tells me how to new founders can find what they’re looking for. ___ Aera Technology https://www.aeratechnology.com/ Anaplan’s re-launch https://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/20170620-fusionops-rebrands-as-aera-technology-after-landing-50-millio...

Co-Founder and Co-CEO of FreeWheel Doug Knopper tells me how he uses his considerable Silicon Valley experience to train the next generation of talent with his new project, CEOhacker. ___ DoubleClick acquired https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/14/technology/14DoubleClick.html FreeWheel acquired https://techcrunch.com/2014/03/01/comcast-freewheel/ Silicon Valley’s diversity problem https://www.cnbc.co...

Super-networker and Gainsight CEO Nick Mehta tells me how listening to people and creating a good company culture has turned the customer success software platform into a market leader. ___ Nick Mehta’s site https://www.mehtaphysical.com/ Gainsight https://www.gainsight.com/ The one page strategic plan https://scalingup.com/book/ Shoshin https://alyjuma.com/shoshin/ Gainsight was one of the best s...

Co-Founder and CEO of Nutanix Dheeraj Pandey took his company from an idea to a unicorn in just five years. He tells me how he still feels like an underdog and why simple, reliable products make successful companies. ___ Nutanix is a unicorn https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2014/01/14/nutanix-101m-round-unicorn/#429b0793582a Nutanix goes public https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/30/business/de...

Jyoti Bansal’s AppDynamics recently sold to Cisco for $3.8 billion. As a first-time sole founder and CEO from a tech background, Jyoti tells me what he learned about the business side of things. ___ Cisco buys AppDynamics for $3.7 billion https://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/24/cisco-buys-tech-ipo-candidate-appdynamics-for-37-billion.htm AppDynamics completes first funding round https://www.appdynamics.co...