Olivier Pomel built Datadog into a $40B company while burning only $25M in capital. In our conversation, he shares the fundraising lessons, operating principles, and core insights that made this possible. He also discusses the pros and cons of building a tech company in NYC, how early-career professionals should approach learning AI tools, how Datadog is building a trusted relationship with their users around AI features, and much more
(00:00) Intro
(01:30) Datadog's Early Challenges and Lessons
(04:32) The Core Insight Behind Datadog
(05:20) Building the Right Product
(07:46) Transitioning to Open Beta
(09:38) Expanding Datadog's Product Line
(11:26) Platform Vision and Modular Products
(18:12) Empowering Product Teams
(22:14) Acquisitions and Integration Strategy
(33:18) Customer-Centric Approach
(36:39) Bottom-Up Sales Strategy
(46:04) Navigating Founder Challenges
(46:37) Building a Collaborative Management Team
(48:32) Staying Close to Customers
(51:36) Maintaining a Culture of Discipline and Efficiency
(56:26) Pricing Strategy and Market Positioning
(01:01:24) Fostering a Low-Ego, High-Performance Culture
(01:06:32) Hiring and Promoting for Long-Term Success
(01:12:21) Fundraising and Investor Relations
(01:16:03) Deciding Whether to Sell or Scale
(01:18:26) The Impact of AI on Software Development
(01:23:24) Choosing New York Over Silicon Valley
(01:28:04) Final Thoughts and Reflections
Executive Producer: Rashad Assir
Producer: Leah Clapper
Mixing and editing: Justin Hrabovsky
Check out Unsupervised Learning, Redpoint's AI Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@UCUl-s_Vp-Kkk_XVyDylNwLA
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About the Show
Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode, Logan goes behind the scenes with world-class entrepreneurs and investors. If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every Friday for new episodes.
