EP 77: Ryan Smith (Utah Jazz Owner, Qualtrics Co-Founder): HS Dropout Turned Tech Founder Bought His Hometown NBA Team
The Logan Bartlett Show
Selecting a CEO and the Importance of Being a Fast Learner
Co-founders discuss the decision-making process and reluctance in choosing a CEO, emphasizing the importance of being a fast learner and mentorship.
Ryan Smith is the owner of the Utah Jazz, as well as the founder and former CEO of Qualtrics (recently acquired for $12B).
In the episode, Ryan reveals why he bought his hometown NBA team, and what it’s like to own the Utah Jazz. He shares his unconventional path to founding Qualtrics, including how he dropped out of high school, ended up in South Korea with nothing, and later started the company with his dad and brother. Ryan also gives practical insights on productivity and work-life balance.
(0:00) Intro
(1:00) Buying the Utah Jazz
(8:09) Customer base of a fan versus customer base of enterprise software
(10:42) Applying lessons in tech to basketball
(18:26) Trading and relationships
(21:15) Getting rid of the RSN deal
(28:33) Starting a non-profit
(19:59) Views on productivity and work-from-home
(37:07) Becoming a CEO
(40:01) Bill Gates exercise strategy
(45:51) Dropping out of high school and going to South Korea
(50:03) LDS Mission in Mexico
(55:49) Starting Qualtrics with your dad
(1:00:26) Working at Ford
(1:03:37) Northwestern Field Study
(1:05:32) Cheaper, faster, better
(1:08:24) Not selling for $500 million
(1:12:38) No venture capital
(1:16:25) Getting acquired
(1:24:07) Product market fit
(1:34:35) Brother’s time at Google
(1:39:21) Plan for things to take a little bit longer than you expect
(1:42:51) The infamous horse story
Show Notes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN0FAhzD-WI
Mixed and edited: Justin Hrabovsky
Produced: Rashad Assir
Executive Producer: Josh Machiz
Music: Griff Lawson
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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.
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
🎥 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCugS0jD5IAdoqzjaNYzns7w?sub_confirmation=1
Follow on Socials
📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theloganbartlettshow
📱 X - https://twitter.com/loganbartshow
🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@theloganbartlettshow
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 of The Logan Bartlett Show, we sit down with the people behind today’s most important startups and extract the tactics, lessons, and frameworks they’ve learned the hard way. Conversations span hiring to GTM, product, growth, fundraising and everything in between - collectively forming the ultimate playbook to make you a better CEO, investor or board member.
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