There were some real world pressures that were making it difficult to hold the line here. For our competitors that were starting in a similar space, when we decided to focus on mission critical transactionof work loads with ha focus on keeping data close to users, other feasible strategies opened up for our competitors. And so you start to see customers that you say no to go into the arms of your competitors. Can be demoralizing if you don't have conviction,. If you're not able to show how the strategy that you've outlined is ultimately going to create success both in the short term, but over the long period as well. That's very hard to say no to at that stage of a start up
Today’s episode is with Nate Stewart, CPO of Cockroach Labs, the creator of database product CockroachDB.
In today’s conversation, we cover his essential advice for building a highly-technical product. He sketches out how the Cockroach team decided on the specific use case for its database product. Nate explains the steps the team took to reach conviction on their go-forward plan — which meant saying no to a lot of customers who didn’t align with the product roadmap. Nate dives into the tactical ways to avoid taking on too many customer commitments, which he calls tech debt for product teams.
Next, Nate dives into his advice for approaching design partnerships, especially when handling more conservative enterprise clients. He explains the different types of design partners, and why you should have all of those represented in the early days of your startup.
Finally, we wrap up with his advice for other product leaders, including how to create a rock-solid partnership with a CEO as the first head of product, and how he solicits honest feedback across the executive team.
You can follow Nate on Twitter at @Nate_Stewart
You can email us questions directly at review@firstround.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/firstround and twitter.com/brettberson