When you have a rough quarter,
Watch how your VPs present at the next board meeting.
The ones that own it are keepers.
The ones that blame others, won't make it.
Today is a BIG day - we're proud to unveil the InfraRed 100, a comprehensive list of the next 100 most promising private companies in Cloud Infrastructure.
The list includes a variety of early, mid, and late-stage companies. See the full list here!
Meetings are a usually a bug.
If you properly root cause them, you will find a trust issue, a clarity issue, or a missing API. Meetings can paper over these, but it’s much better to fix root cause.
Honestly, so many fortunes are built out of "spite" and "proving people wrong" - I wish we talked more about it.
Don't "be at peace" with those people who didn't see your potential - be an absolute monster.
I decided it was better to invest in entrepreneurs that I thought would be the most interesting (and fun) to watch from the bleachers as they tried to turn their crazy ideas into realities.
And that, as they say, has made all the difference.
Clock speed is one of the biggest factors you can optimize as a company. The speed at which you ship, get feedback, iterate, and ship again is your most sustainable competitive advantage.
One of my best performing portfolio companies now with many millions in ARR:
Lost 2 of 3 co-founders.
Pivoted the entire product.
Lost their Head of Sales.
All in one month.
Nothing is ever up and to the right.
This is a game of who can survive the longest. 💪🏼
The best tech companies drive strategy through product. This is why founders and CEOs tend to be product leaders, and product / design / engineering is more important than ops / marketing / finance. Here’s what this looked like for me as a business leader at Amzn and Facebook:
We're excited to announce a strategic partnership with @Microsoft to help ISVs list, sell, and seamlessly scale on #Microsoft commercial #marketplace. https://t.co/401T5KL3bO
Founders: Don't grow into the company whose employees say this. To avoid it, you'll need not just different software, but a different attitude. The people in charge of employee expenses should think of themselves as providing a service rather than enforcing rules.