Scaling Google Ads: Lessons from an $80B Journey with Sanjay Datta
Run the Numbers
Navigating Leadership Growth
This chapter explores the essential role of credibility in leadership as businesses expand, stressing the importance of delegation and team trust. The speaker shares their journey from an active CFO to a strategic leader, highlighting the challenges of relinquishing control and embracing new opportunities. Additionally, the discussion includes how evolving business sizes necessitate shifts in metrics and strategies, demonstrating the need for agility and robust decision-making in the face of uncertainty.
Sanjay Datta, CFO of Upstart and former senior finance exec at Google, joins CJ to discuss leadership, scaling, and the future of lending with AI. Sanjay spent 12 years at Google, helping grow it into an $80B global ads business. He sheds light on Google’s monetization model, the simplicity of its forecasting, and the power of centralized analytics. He also reflects on scaling Upstart from $10M to $500M, going public, managing investor and employee expectations, and staying agile through macroeconomic shifts.
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TIMESTAMPS:
(00:00) Preview and Intro
(02:17) Sponsor – Planful | Subscript | Rippling Spend
(05:39) Sanjay’s Unconventional Career Path
(07:55) Lessons From Google on Being a Leader
(10:11) Managing an $80 Billion Revenue Ad Business
(12:24) The Evolution of Google’s Monetization Model
(15:06) Sponsor – MUFG | Vanta | Tropic | NetSuite
(21:04) Scaling Google Ads to $80 Billion
(23:18) Google’s Forecasting Model
(24:48) Complexity and Scale at Google
(28:03) The Science of Analytics in a Digital Company
(31:06) Upstart’s IPO
(33:00) Managing Internal Expectations in Good and Bad Times
(37:10) Why You Should Work Yourself Out of a Job Each Year
(41:23) Things That Get Easier As You Scale
(42:18) How Metrics Shift With Scale
(43:35) Contingency Planning at Upstart
(47:13) Why the Lending System Is Broken
(49:44) How Upstart Keeps Its Credit Models Accurate and Ethical
(54:31) Predictions on the Lending Market for the Next Year
(58:35) Long-Ass Lightning Round: Wine Corking Business
(1:01:17) Advice to Younger Self
(1:02:26) Finance Software Stack
(01:02:57) Craziest Expense Story
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