On this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Nick Mehta, Chief Executive Officer at Gainsight.

The goal of every startup is to exit via IPO, and if not, then by way of acquisition. But what should founders know about the process of getting there? Everything — from turning an idea into a scalable business to seeking potential buyers to what the reality of being owned by a larger company entails.

Nick's first CEO role, at LiveOffice, led to the sale of the company in 2012 by Symantec for $115 million. More recently, Gainsight was acquired by Vista for a reported $1.1 billion.

In this session, Nick discusses:

4:11 - Key traits and the route to becoming an entrepreneur

13:57 - Early Gainsight milestones

18:11 - Key learnings from the 'category creation' playbook

27:10 - Ensuring your community building is generating sales

35:36 - The types of people to hire to build out a team

42:27 - Training the organization to make decisions when he's not in the room

46: 22- The exit process and lessons for startups thinking of selling

56:19 - Mental health hacks


Learn more at https://tractionconf.io


Connect with Nick Mehta: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickmehta/

Learn more about Gainsight at https://www.gainsight.com/

This episode is brought to you by:

Each year the U.S. and Canadian governments provide more than $20 billion in R&D tax credits and innovation incentives to fund businesses, but the application process is cumbersome, prone to costly audits, and receiving the money can take as long as 16 months. Boast automates this process enabling companies to get more money faster without the paperwork and audit risk. We don’t get paid until you do! Find out if you qualify today at https://Boast.AI.

Launch Academy is one of the top global tech hubs for international entrepreneurs and a designated organization for Canada's Startup Visa. Since 2012, Launch has worked with more than 6000 entrepreneurs from over 100 countries, of which 300 have grown their startups to Seed and Series A stage and raised over $2 Billion in funding. To learn more about Launch's programs or the Canadian Startup Visa visit https://LaunchAcademy.ca 

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