Grit

#199 CEO & Co-Founder Klaviyo, Andrew Bialecki: High Slope

Jul 15, 2024

01:00:23

Snipd AI

CEO of Klaviyo, Andrew Bialecki, values 'high slope' individuals who are curious and willing to learn new things. Topics include hiring for slope, nature vs. nurture, building company culture, taking ownership, and productivity habits.

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Quick takeaways

Valuing curiosity and continuous learning over specific skills when hiring employees at Klaviyo.

Creating a college-like atmosphere in the workplace to promote collaboration and attention to detail in office design.

Encouraging employee growth through challenging tasks, ownership, and problem-solving, fostering personal development and company alignment.

Deep dives

Nature vs. Nurture in Learning

Investing in learning as a skill is highlighted, emphasizing the impact of practice and repetition on skill development. The importance of nurturing the ability to learn is compared to a muscle that requires consistent practice.

Challenges and Learning

01:55

Intro

2min

Importance of Attention to Detail and Decision-Making in Business

10min

Scalable Customer Engagement Platform for Personalized Experiences

3min

Going Public and Business Growth Strategies

10min

Intelligence as a Learned Trait

12min

Building Company Culture with a Product Roadmap

19min

Overcoming Mental Battles, Finding Inspiration, and Nurturing Careers

5min

Guest: Andrew Bialecki, CEO of Klaviyo

Whenever the marketing platform Klaviyo is hiring, says CEO Andrew Bialecki, “we sort of don't care so much what skills you have.” Instead, the company looks for “high slope” individuals who are curious and able to continually learn new things. “A big turnoff for me is [when] somebody says, ‘Oh, well, I was never good at that when I was growing up,’” Andrew explains. “You know, ‘I'm not a good writer’ or ‘I'm not good with numbers.’ And it's like, well, OK, but anybody can learn anything.”

In this episode, Andrew and Joubin discuss WeCrashed, Paul Graham, vertical integration, automating sales, Ed Hallen, The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle, child prodigies, interview questions, public speaking and decompression, taking ownership, hiring engineers, burnout, and productivity habits.

Chapters:

(00:51) - Klaviyo's office
(02:36) - Attention to detail
(06:32) - Big decisions
(12:23) - What Klaviyo does
(14:50) - Its 2023 IPO
(20:35) - The founding story
(25:06) - Nature or nurture?
(28:47) - Science and hockey
(31:02) - Hiring for slope
(33:57) - Extroversion
(37:00) - Culture as product
(39:53) - Owning your success
(46:24) - “The algorithms of humanity”
(50:55) - Why Andrew runs
(52:35) - Sports psychology for startups
(55:34) - Richard Feynman
(58:27) - Who Klaviyo is hiring
(59:20) - What “grit” means to Andrew

Links:

Connect with Andrew

Connect with Joubin

Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

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