Guest: Ted Purcell, CRO of Tealium

The biggest difference between small companies and big companies, says Tealium CRO Ted Purcell, is that at untested early-stage firms, you have to convince workers “to truly believe in what they believe... It’s not just ‘do this’ or ‘do that.’” To unlock high performers, Ted explains, you need to give them a “religious level” of belief in the company and the value it delivers to customers, which will carry over into every aspect of their jobs. And this is even more important in a market downturn: “That becomes the main job because the winning is not as evenly spread,” he says. 

In this episode, Ted and Joubin discuss empty-nesters, resisting leadership, liking to win vs. hating to lose, complete commitment, commitment to culture, hardcore accountability, Israeli conversations, Day-Timers, and endurance battles.

In this episode, we cover:

• Growing up and raising kids in Silicon Valley (00:56)
• From individual contributor to management (05:03)
• The appreciation for the grind (08:45)
• Ted’s father and his sudden passing (10:33)
• Stepping up to take care of the family (14:40)
• The Purcell family dinner table conversation (18:22)
• Working with Bill McDermott at SAP (20:50)
• Ted’s favorite Bill story (26:00)
• Getting comfortable as a leader (28:35)
• (Over-) Optimizing for lifestyle (34:02)
• How to spot greatness in interviews (37:25)
• A startup guy at big companies (39:48)
• Clarizen and corporate culture in Israel (42:10)
• Tealium and the “pressure cooker” environment (47:36)
• Believing in the “why” (51:13)
• Tough feedback and misconceptions (53:47)
• Recording ideas and daily habits (55:33)
• Pushing to achieve your potential (57:38)
• Gaining perspective (01:02:05)
• Who Tealium is hiring and what “grit” means to Ted (01:05:55)

Links:

• Connect with Ted
  • LinkedIn
• Connect with Joubin
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com 
• Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
• This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm