S7E8: Edith Harbaugh on Unlocking Feature Flagging and Feature Management at Scale with LaunchDarkly

In the season seven finale, we chat with Edith Harbaugh, CEO and Co-Founder of LaunchDarkly, the feature management platform which allows development teams to innovate faster by gradually releasing new software features to any segment of users on any platform. Edith speaks to the lessons she learned during her earlier career as a software engineer and product leader. She describes the key learnings she had in selling a product she ardently believed in to buyers who didn’t know yet why they needed her platform. Today, Edith has been named on the Forbes Cloud 100 list, Entrepreneur's 100 Women of influence list, and NASDAQ Female Leaders Council.

Themes you expect in this week's episode include; the trade-offs to a development team of building vs buying, the need for feature management across startups and enterprises, and how trust drives your go-to-market strategy with early customers.

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6:04 - Where did Edith grow up and how did that shape her view of the world?
7:19 - Did Edith always think she would become a founder?
8:38 - What did Edith learn when she stayed at her first job through an acquisition?
12:17 - What was the “aha” moment that encouraged Edith to launch LaunchDarkly?
17:59 - How did engineering and product teams manage feature flags before LaunchDarkly?
19:34 - When did Edith know it was time to leave TripIt and focus entirely on LaunchDarkly?
21:02 - How has the LaunchDarkly product evolved since its creation?
23:03 - Who was the first person to say yes to investing in LaunchDarkly?
25:13 - What was a moment in Edith’s journey where things didn’t go as planned?
29:26 - How did Edith earn the trust of the stakeholders she was selling to?
31:25 - Did Edith have to rethink her go-to-market strategy once she realized the trust factor in selling a product like Launch Darkly?
33:36 - What changed behind the scenes once LaunchDarkly hit its stride?
37:22 - How has the competitive landscape evolved since LaunchDarkly’s origin?
40:02 - How does Edith empower her team amidst periods of uncertainty?
41:17 - How has Edith’s experience been on the NASDAQ Female Leaders Council?
43:24 - What's next for LaunchDarkly?
44:24 - Who is a woman that has had a profound impact on Edith’s life and career?

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