#180 CEO & Co-Founder Verkada, Filip Kaliszan: Outlier
Mar 4, 2024
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CEO of Verkada discusses personal growth challenges as company scales, importance of fixing mistakes, office culture, impact of COVID-19, fundraising, building a camera company, time management, biggest screw-ups, and VR technology advancements.
Focusing on personal growth as a founder while company scales, fixing mistakes crucial for trust.
Emphasizing importance of office culture for employee morale, productivity, and recruitment.
Navigating leadership transitions, aligning hires with company trajectory, learning from mistakes for growth.
Deep dives
Building Strong Customer Relationships
Having meaningful conversations with customers is highlighted as a way to boost morale and gain valuable insights. The speaker praises the positive feedback received from thousands of customers, considering it a guiding beacon for the company's direction.
Creating a Culture of Collaboration
The importance of fostering a collaborative culture is emphasized, focusing on the energy and enthusiasm generated when people work closely together. The intentional design of the office space is highlighted as a key element to inspire and excite employees, aiding in recruitment and showcasing productivity.
Maintaining Community & Connectivity
The impact of community and connectivity in the workplace is discussed, reflecting on the sense of camaraderie and shared purpose experienced in physical work environments. The loss of community during remote work due to COVID-19 is acknowledged, emphasizing the energizing effect of working towards a common goal.
Strategic Decision-Making & Growth Challenges
Insights into strategic decision-making and growth challenges are shared, reflecting on the evolution of leadership roles and the transition from hands-on involvement to delegation with the infusion of capital post-Series A funding. The importance of aligning executive hires with the company's trajectory and investing in pivotal early team members is underscored.
Innovative company practices during COVID-19
During COVID-19, the company implemented unique support measures like having nurses on staff for same-day employee PCR tests and building a commercial kitchen to serve meals when restaurants were closed. They focused on life facility support and evaluated costs versus benefits, leading to significant growth.
Building and scaling the company with lessons learned
The company's CEO reflects on past mistakes, including not connecting with employees during growth, and not addressing employee misbehavior promptly. These experiences taught the importance of clear communication and swift decision-making. The CEO emphasizes the value of learning from mistakes and highlights the challenge and reward of hiring 600 employees while maintaining a strong office culture.
Guest: Filip Kaliszan, CEO and co-founder of Verkada
Great founders try to grow personally at least as fast as their companies do — but sometimes, says Verkada CEO Filip Kaliszan, that’s just not possible. By the time the company had about 200 employees, he says, “the scale of the business and the rate of the growth of the business ... outpaced my rate of learning, or my ability to consult the right people.” But over time, he has worked to fix past errors and earn everyone’s trust: “I can be only as good as the rate at which I fix my mistakes,” Filip says.
In this episode, Filip and Joubin discuss “the good old days,” first principle thinking, the business impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bay Area bubble, going public, Aaron Levie, going down rabbit holes, power dynamics, idea validation, Brian Long, Hans Robertson, DIY entrepreneurship, commercial kitchens, cash efficiency, VR headsets, zeitgeist-y platform shifts, Mark Zuckerberg, and John Doerr.
In this episode, we cover:
(00:50) - Verkada’s office culture
(04:37) - The loss of community
(10:37) - Not going remote during COVID
(16:37) - Palo Alto Networks
(22:15) - Does Filip like being CEO?
(26:02) - Time management and flow state
(29:47) - The problem with huge meetings
(31:59) - Fundraising for Verkada
(34:02) - Building a “camera company”
(37:29) - Zero to one
(41:17) - The first 10 people
(42:48) - Allocating capital wisely
(46:19) - Hiring in-house
(51:17) - Biggest screw-ups
(54:00) - The feeling of failure
(55:05) - Customer therapy
(56:39) - Divide and conquer
(01:00:47) - The Apple Vision Pro
(01:05:05) - Mark Zuckerberg’s response
(01:09:25) - Who Verkada is hiring and what “grit” means to Filip
