#152 CEO Gainsight, Nick Mehta: Human-First

Guest: Nick Mehta, CEO of Gainsight

Gainsight CEO Nick Mehta describes himself as “the person who goes all in, on whatever.” So when he had a personally difficult year, he didn’t just go to therapy — he also talked to a professional coach, and read about religion, and experimented with (legal) ketamine therapy. All of that led to him “better understanding the inner self ... [and] helping to find ways to suppress the exterior.” In other words, even though Gainsight’s culture is suffused with Nick’s values, he is consciously trying to unpack a “new version of myself” that is greater than his company: “There’s a lot more to me than I realized,” he says.

In this episode, Nick and Joubin discuss Mike Moritz, golf clubs, Don Valentine, eclectic fashion, loneliness, Enneagram types, setting the tone, moments of vulnerability, Vista Equity Partners, talking to customers, Jack Dorsey, building others’ brands, startups as kids, Marc Benioff, and the ship of Theseus.

In this episode, we cover:

• The mystique of Sand Hill Road (00:58)
• Un-measurable marketing (05:07) 
• Launching Chipshot.com (09:17)
• I-banking culture and fitting in (13:14)
• Getting help after a rough year (19:48)
• Immigrant achievers and the meaning of work (21:32)
• Fueling success and belief in institutions (24:44)
• Winning while being human-first (30:19)
• Founder-defined values and culture (3 5:41)
• What happened to Chipshot? (40:46)
• Empathy for all entrepreneurs (44:11)
• Growing & selling LiveOffice (46:03)
• The new Nick (48:53)
• Selling Gainsight for $1.1 billion (51:56)
• Coda and time management (55:20)
• Ghost notes (59:01)
• When the spotlight goes away (01:02:17)
• Philosophy and science books (01:05:45)
• Deleting work apps every weekend (01:09:23)
• Who Gainsight is hiring and what “grit” means to Nick (01:10:26)

Links:

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