B2BaCEO (with Ashu Garg)

Latest Episodes:

BONUS: How to Architect the Future (Max Simkoff, Founder & CEO of Doma) Aug 03, 2021

Show notes

This is a special bonus episode of B2BaCEO featuring one of Foundation Capital’s own CEOs, Max Simkoff. In 2016, Max founded Doma, a real estate transactions startup, out of our San Francisco office and Foundation led his Series A. Just last week, less than five years later, Doma started trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

You can watch the full story of how Doma went from proof-of-concept to public company in our new video series, “Diary of a Startup."

But this episode of the podcast focusses on what Max learned it takes for a FOUNDER-CEO to build a great company. Max walks us through all the critical first steps, even the seemingly trivial ones, for starting a business. He gets into the minds of VC investors and what founders need to do to really impress them. And he lays out, in no uncertain terms, who exactly is and isn’t a real entrepreneur.

How to Do OKRs Right (Deidre Paknad, CEO & Co-Founder of WorkBoard) Jun 28, 2021

Show notes

This episode goes deep on a topic that many founders, especially first-time founders, obsess over but usually get wrong: OKRs, objectives and key results. And there’s literally no greater authority on this topic than our guest Deidre Paknad, CEO and cofounder of WorkBoard, the enterprise standard in OKR software and expertise. Deidre is one of the most methodical, systematic, and gutsy leaders we’ve ever had on the show. Many CEOs overdo or underdo OKRs. Listen to Deidre and she’ll tell you how to do OKRs right.

How to Protect Your Perimeter (Doug Merritt and Mike DeCesare) May 12, 2021

Show notes

Doug Merritt and Mike DeCesare both hold leadership roles at prominent cybersecurity companies. But before they made their way into the CEO seat, both spent many years in a variety of operational positions, gaining a 360-degree view of their respective businesses. Today, Doug leads the team at Splunk with empathy, ensuring all contributors feel valued. And Mike, now co-chairman at Forescout Technologies, explains how his holistic professional journey has made him a more thoughtful leader. We’ll hear from both executives in this next installment from our FC BUILD series, this time moderated by my partner and resident cybersecurity expert, Sid Trivedi. Sid questions Doug and Mike about where privacy is heading in a post-Covid world and about some of the hot topics in the world of cybersecurity today.

How to Go From Idea to IPO (George Kurtz & Michelle Zatlyn) May 04, 2021

Show notes

In this session from our FC BUILD conference, Ashu interviews two billion-dollar founders. When it comes to scaling management, engineering culture, and anticipating future markets, Cloudflare COO Michelle Zatlyn and CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz are the ones to ask. Each shares a bit about their respective company’s journeys — plus, George explains how a company is like a race car!

How to Grow as a CEO (Tien Tzuo and Edith Harbaugh) Apr 21, 2021

Show notes

In this installment of our FC BUILD series, my partner Steve Vassallo talks with Edith Harbaugh, co-founder and CEO of LaunchDarkly, and Tien Tzuo, co-founder and CEO of Zuora. Both former engineers, Edith and Tien offer advice for building a startup, discuss scaling in the time of virtual work, and dissect the art of managing others and themselves.

How to Commercialize Open Source (Ali Ghodsi, Co-Founder & CEO of Databricks) Mar 18, 2021

Show notes

In this discussion from our recent enterprise conference FC BUILD, Ashu interviews Databricks founder and CEO Ali Ghodsi. A rather unconventional company, Databricks began as an open-source project at UC Berkeley that moved into the commercial space after the team realized its impact. Ali and Ashu discuss commercializing an open-source project, identifying product-market fit, and optimizing go-to-market.

How to Manage on the Edge of Chaos (Reed Hastings, CEO & Co-Founder of Netflix) Feb 19, 2021

Show notes

This is a special episode of B2B a CEO. Last month, Foundation Capital held a special event for all of our CEOs. We hosted a conversation with Foundation’s most illustrious CEO, Reed Hastings, the CEO and cofounder of Netflix. General Partner Steve Vassallo and General Partner Emeritus Mike Schuh interviewed Reed about his new book, No Rules Rules. Reed discusses the evolution of Netflix, and what he’s learned over the decades about how to build a high-performance culture. He also shares a few stories from back in the day. https://foundationcapital.com/how-to-manage-on-the-edge-of-chaos/

How to Build a Snowflake (Frank Slootman, Chairman & CEO of Snowflake) Jan 28, 2021

Show notes

From FC BUILD, our recent enterprise conference, Foundation Capital General Partner Joanne Chen interviews Snowflake CEO Frank Slootman. On the heels of his third major IPO, Frank discusses performance culture, scaling, and the future of data.

How to Sell Yourself, Your Startup, and Your Product (Edith Harbaugh, CEO & CoFounder of LaunchDarkly) Nov 09, 2020

Show notes

On this episode, Ashu interviews Edith Harbaugh, co-founder and CEO of feature management platform LaunchDarkly. They discuss what it takes to leap from an established job to pursue an idea, and how to tackle the woes of fundraising. Edith and Ashu spend the lion’s share of the conversation on the all-important topic of sales. How to sell yourself, your company, and your product. And what to look for when you’re hiring a sales leader.

How to Be an Anti-Racist CEO (Ralph Clark, President & CEO of ShotSpotter) Sep 14, 2020

Show notes

This episode’s guest is Ralph Clark, the president and CEO of ShotSpotter. Ralph has more than 30 years of experience in corporate finance and organizational leadership roles at IBM, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, and several successful tech startups. He and Ashu talk about how executives and the tech industry can confront bias and systemic racism.

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B2BaCEO (with Ashu Garg)

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