When you look in the Bay Area, I think 99% of companies out here were effectively cultural descendants of Google. When I was at Square, there were so many discussions, so many things that we did where oftentimes whether implicitly or explicitly defense would be, well, this is how they did at Google. There's a very, very core Google-esque mentality here. You have other companies like Microsoft who I think has absolutely perfected the aspect of what it means to build a platform with many different products and everyone having their own go to market strategy. As a result, look fundamentally very, very different from Google.
Today’s episode is with Rick Song, the co-founder and CEO of Persona, a platform that enables companies to create the ideal identity verification experience for their customers. Before founding Persona in 2018, Rick was an engineer at Square for 5 years, and an early team member at Square Capital.
Rick is at an exciting inflection point in his journey of building from zero to one — just last week, Persona shared that they’ve raised a $50 million Series B round. The company plans to double the team this year to keep up with revenue that’s surged more than 10x and a customer base that’s grown to include big logos like Square, Postmates, and Gusto.
In today’s conversation, one theme stands out: Rick is somewhat obsessed with the idea of pre-mortems, or figuring out why things might not work out. From all the ways a candidate might fail, to why a customer won’t want a product, to how a commonly-used framework might not be a good fit, Rick brings this mindset to every aspect of running Persona.
From hiring lessons to go-to-market strategies, Rick offers up some counterintuitive thinking, including why his engineers sell and cold-email prospects, and why he doesn’t try to convince candidates that Persona is a company that will change the world.
Today’s episode holds tons of insights for anyone who’s a founder or thinking about starting a company one day, but there’s also plenty in here for engineering leaders and hiring managers.
You can follow Rick on Twitter at @rickcsong and learn more about Persona at https://withpersona.com/
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